Ancient Indian Tradition—Or Twentieth-Century European Export?
Evidence suggests that today’s common yoga practices were inspired by a popular 1924 Danish gymnastics manual.
Carl von Siemens
· 19 min read
India
A collection of 14 posts
The Soldier and the Revolutionary
The contrasting lives and ambitions of two major figures in the fight for Indian Independence: Kodandera Subayya Thimayya (“Timmy”) and Subhas Chandra Bose.
Phil Craig
· 28 min read
Podcast #295. War and the End of Empire
Iona Italia talks to historian and film-maker Phil Craig about the latest in his series of books about World War II: ‘1945: A Reckoning: War, Empire and the Struggle for a New World.’
Quillette, Phil Craig
· 45 min read
Snakes in the Backyard
Pakistan is failing to control the terrorist groups that are headquartered within its borders and pose a serious threat to both India and the West.
Aneela Mirchandani
· 6 min read
The Women Excluded from Parsi Life
The Zoroastrians of India are a tiny and rapidly shrinking group. Yet they exclude women who marry out and their offspring from their community.
Nev March
· 16 min read
Podcast #243: The Freedom to Blaspheme
Jonathan Kay speaks to fellow podcast host Kushal Mehra about the ‘eerie similarities’ between censorship campaigns in India and Canada.
Quillette
· 18 min read
A Different Way of Doing Atheism
Indian philosophical traditions such as Nāstika and Nirīśvaravāda offer the West’s angry ‘neo-atheists’ a more nuanced model for channelling their religious disbelief.
Kushal Mehra
· 8 min read
Bad History at the BBC
A new radio series about the 1943 Bengal famine favours culture-war polemic over rigorous scholarship.
Hira Jungkow
· 6 min read
Swastikas of Both Sorts: Hindu Nationalism's Fascist Nostalgia
Hindu nationalism is nostalgic for a golden age that never existed, before the invasions of first the Muslims and then the British.
Anwesh Satpathy
· 12 min read
India’s Illiberal First Amendment
The Indian government’s tendency to crack down on speech of which it disapproves dates from the founding of the republic.
Anwesh Satpathy
· 11 min read
The European Union Is Finally Coming Around to Gene-Edited Seeds
For a quarter century, activists such as Vandana Shiva have opposed GM crops that can help feed the world. Now, more than ever, it’s time to reject their Luddite demands
Zion Lights
· 15 min read
Imagine There’s No Svarga: Rediscovering Cārvāka, India’s 2,700-Year-Old Atheistic Tradition
The Cārvākas considered only matter—that which could be sensed—to be real.
Kushal Mehra
· 8 min read
Next Year in Simla: Thirty years After Its Defeat, the Khalistan Movement Fights on in Cyberspace
Even if the referendum turns out to be a complete failure, though, the Khalistanis seem unlikely to fade away.
Terry Milewski
· 19 min read
India’s Increasingly Despotic Crackdown on Journalists
The deadly attacks on journalists, who now work within a tightening entanglement of political bosses and business behemoths, signifies the rise of India’s elected despots.
Debasish Roy Chowdhury and John Keane
· 7 min read