Is India a banana republic? The answer is an emphatic 'No'. Yet, why does a political stalwart, who and whose political party had the pleasure and privilege of ruling India for 55 years, publicly target and viciously denigrate the incumbent Indian Air Force chief? Why this humiliation? Especially, on a day, when the Chinese foreign minister, Wang, and a military delegation from Beijing are in town? How happy will the Chinese be? Will, they not celebrate? Elated to see helplessness of the dishonoured serving Air Chief.
December 29, 2018The Kangra Fort dates back to the period of the Mahabharata.
November 19, 2018Ajay's two sons Dushyant Chautala and Digvijay Chautala were expelled from the party by their grandfather and INLD president Om Prakash Chautala for anti-party activities.
November 15, 2018This river is no ordinary image in which the divine has come to dwell. She is celestial – unmediated and immediate. Whatever is holy, whatever is merciful, whatever is utterly auspicious is already there. (Ganga: The Goddess Ganges in Hindu Sacred Geography by Diana L. Eck) The Ganges, from being a riverine divinity to an …
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October 18, 2018Fields during excavations at Sinauli village of Baghpat district has opened a new chapter for archaeologists and historians. These discoveries could be an important link between the period of second urbanisation and early time of cultural society in the Indian Subcontinent. Enthused by the discovery of chariot , swords, shields, etc., some historians believe that …
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June 17, 2018A very fine point is made in analysing the presence of violent death in the epic. Akbar perceptively called it Razmnama — the Book of War. As in the Greek epics, its depiction is devoid of bodily pain. Death is the truth Bhishma encounters willingly... A review
June 3, 2018Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Tuesday claimed that Internet and satellite communication existed in the days of Mahabharata. “Internet and satellite communication had existed in the days of Mahabharata. Sanjaya (the charioteer of king Dhritarashtra) using the technology gave a detailed account and description to the blind king about the battle of …
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April 18, 2018This well-bound volume is essential reading for any indologist interested in the Harivamsha... A review
April 14, 2018The Indian film industry is a citadel of secularism where there’s no scope for communal bias, says veteran writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar. “I had joined the film industry in 1965 on a salary of 50 rupees a month. In these 53 years, not for a second, I have experienced or even seen any communal bias in …
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March 28, 2018Shaheer Sheikh is the heartthrob of Indian television and he has been a part of the industry for 13 years now. The dashing actor has wooed us with his sharp features and intense look. Shaheer won hearts with his acting in many TV serials like Navya and recently with Kuch Rang Pyaar Ke Aise Bhi. …
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March 26, 2018Superstar Aamir Khan is all set to star in Mahabharata, whose estimated cost is Rs 1000 crore, after completing Thugs of Hindostan. Yes, Mahabharata will be a Rs 1000-crore film and it will be backed by business tycoon Mukesh Ambani. The film will reportedly be the most expensive film of Bollywood and one of the most expensive …
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March 21, 2018After facing legal battles and incarceration for an alleged rape, theatre personality and “Peepli Live” co-producer Mahmood Farooqui is a free man and ready to return to his first love, theatre, with a play based on the “Mahabharata”. Farooqui’s wife and filmmaker Anusha Rizvi says the fight is not yet over. “We are slowly getting …
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January 23, 2018While Valmiki speaks of one Ravana, in subsequent tellings of Ramakatha, we find several Ravanas, each more powerful than the others, most of them more monstrous and gruesome, including a Ravana with one hundred thousand heads instead of the ten heads we are familiar with! One other major change we notice in these tellings is …
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December 2, 2017The Draupadi Dream Trust founded and chaired by Neera Misra of Kampilya-Panchali’s birthplace organised the first Indraprastha Festival in November 2016 to highlight the need for recovering and showcasing evidence of this millennia old city. Besides a performance of the Indonesian “Wayang Kulit” depicting how Indraprastha was built according to the legend in Bali, an …
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November 19, 2017The idea is to question one’s innermost desire and believe in ourselves as women, says Sunaina Bhalla on her work.
November 13, 2017The season of Autumn and the months of October -November, brings to us another much celebrated festival in North India, the Chhath Puja. It is the festival of the sixth day of the Bengali month Kartik (October-November) when Hindus worship the Sun god or the God of light. There are also many mythological stories revolving …
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October 26, 2017Hiltebeitel’s devoted shishya Adluri and his chela Bagchee have edited a superb collection of papers by 12 Mahabharata (MB) scholars with Hiltebeitel at both ends. The theme is his proposition that “sub-tales” are not fringe episodes but are central to the MB’s architectonics. Goldman’s Foreword notes that thematic proximity characterises these stories. Adluri’s fine Introduction …
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October 15, 2017