One of the most compelling yet overlooked themes of Hindu civilization is that the gods themselves are prone to dislodgement from their celestial heights, to suffer exile and humiliation at the hands of upstarts who have inveigled fancy boons out of them, and then defeated them in battle. The gods … Read More
Having run out of liberal, utopian, Marxist, post-modern, post-religion and post-ideology theories to hypnotize the ex-colonial mind, exhausted Western scholars are turning to Bible and psycho-babble to mesmerize third world audiences. Incredible as it seems, the University of Chicago’s Prof. Martha Nussbaum invoked the puerile prattle of Sigmund Freud to … Read More
Former premier Benazir Bhutto merely underlined Pakistan’s client status by calling upon America, Britain and other Western nations to give President Musharraf an ultimatum regarding “democracy or dictatorship with isolation.” Inadvertently conceding that India’s prodigal child lacks viability as an independent state, she pleaded via the New York Times for … Read More
Of all living faiths and traditions in the world, probably only Hindus keep the god of love in their divine pantheon. Kamadeva and his wife, Rati (desire), retain a powerful grip on the Hindu imagination on account of their painful association with Parvati’s quest for Shiva, and the more joyous … Read More
After hectic advocacy by Christian Solidarity Worldwide and Burma Campaign, UK, British MPs John Bercow and Baroness Caroline Cox met a Chin group on the India-Myanmar border last month, while Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. Earlier in May 2007, the House of … Read More
Tulsidas marvelled “it is impossible to keep count of the Ramakathas in the world” (Ramakatha kai miti jaga nahi). Valmiki’s account of the evolution of Indian society’s moral and cultural codes, notions of kingship and the limits of political power, and above all, integration of land and people into a … Read More
If Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi had not been assassinated by Hindus aggrieved that the Partition of Bharat Mata had taken place, not “over my dead body” as he promised, but over the mutilated remains of millions of men, women, and children, there would have been no hope of Hindu affirmation in … Read More
Tulsidas’ seminal rendition of the Rama story makes no mention of the Lakshman rekha in the episode dealing with Sita’s abduction. The line surfaces only later, in distant Lanka, when Ravana’s wife, Mandodri, advises him to give up his obstinacy and refrain from fighting the illustrious Raghus. She points out … Read More
A course correction in Indian historical and political discourse is long overdue. To begin with, if all we achieved on 15 August 1947 was Dominion Status, it is time to stop berating the Left for not participating in the questionable freedom movement led by the Indian National Congress. Secondly, even … Read More
The Indo-US nuclear deal has exposed our worst kept post-colonial secret – there is dyarchy in New Delhi with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi calling the shots and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh executing her designs, even at the cost of national security and sovereignty. Never before has Ms. Gandhi’s foreign origin … Read More
