One of the most critical aspects of the study and appreciation of heritage monuments is their place in a specific historical context, which enables a visitor to envisage the entire socio-political-cultural spectrum of a bygone era, keeping the monument as a reference point. This honest and unbiased understanding of the … Read More
Two deplorable tendencies have of late manifested themselves in the Indian legal system. The first is a nonchalance which gives the rich and powerful unfettered freedom to tamper with evidence and purchase or intimidate witnesses in criminal offences involving themselves, without even the formality of asking witnesses if they need … Read More
Something is churning deep in the heart of Indian Islam, which calls for careful watching and deep analysis, as there are no obvious answers. Yet even a surface view shows that orthodox Muslims, especially religious leaders and scholars, wish to change the old grumpy don’t-enter-my-ghetto approach towards the Hindu majority. … Read More
Though India was fortunate to escape the catastrophic consequences of mad cow disease two years ago, it is undeniably in the grip of an avian flu epidemic in Maharashtra and possibly Gujarat. We shall be lucky if the crisis does not spread to other parts of the country. As the … Read More
The apparently acceptable Indo-US nuclear deal may have caused satisfaction to South Block and the State Department, but America’s Hindu community is feeling psychologically beleaguered as old Hindu-baiters from both countries gang up to abort a necessary correction of school textbooks in California. As the issue has a bearing on … Read More
In an article in The Washington Post, Mr. Flemming Rose, culture editor of Jyllands-Posten, has made the breathtaking claim that after the publication of the Prophet Mohammad cartoons in his newspaper on 30 September 2005, there has been a “constructive debate in Denmark and Europe about freedom of expression, freedom … Read More
As the LTTE completes a quarter century of armed conflict with the Sri Lankan state, Tamil intellectuals in the island nation are agonizing over its pronounced Western bias and poor returns to the Hindu community. As Indians largely perceive LTTE as a Sri Lankan Tamil Hindu organisation, even though former … Read More
An unmistakable aspect of the controversy over the Danish cartoons caricaturing Prophet Mohammad is that the Christian West has been quick to give it a strong political and economic dimension, while the worldwide Islamic community perceives the matter as a religious insult motivated by political deceit. This, I believe, is … Read More
In its second major overture to Hindu opinion after CPM MP Brinda Karat publicly targetted Ayurveda and yoga guru Swami Ramdev, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has booked the controversial artist, M.F. Hussain, for hurting the sentiments of the people. The NCP action comes in the wake of pressure from … Read More
Powerful Western rhetoric notwithstanding, political Islam is not a stateless entity with mindless hatred for non-Muslim societies. The sub-text of the Saudi monarch’s recent visit to India suggests that the keeper of Islam’s two holiest shrines may be steering his country away from the sterile Wahabi Islam that has given … Read More
