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Friday, April 3, 2026
TopicSamarkand

Topic: Samarkand

Dancing Shiva in Samarkand: Central Asian traders spread Hinduism, Buddhism along Silk Road

800 years before Babur, Hindu gods were worshipped by merchant diasporas in Central Asia.

I visited the land of Babur and Timur, Uzbekistan’s ‘national hero’

In Uzbekistan to cover the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, I saw the land of Timur whom Indian history books will always remember as the 'plunderer' of Delhi.

Modi-Xi ‘cold war’ at SCO proves member relationships strained. India must stand on its own

China-Russia power struggle in Central Asia can bring many opportunities. India must keep track to make most of its 2023 SCO presidency.

Forgotten story of great Hindu merchants in Central Asia shows enterprise can defeat China

The fortunes Indian merchants built in Samarkand, Bukhara and Tashkent were based on a single, simple thing: Selling all that Central Asian consumers needed.

On Camera

India’s AI Mission is flying blind without technocrats

While the rest of the world has converged on a model—technical judgement inside the institution, as a permanent organisational property—India remains a conspicuous and costly outlier.

Tanker with 600,000 barrels of Iranian crude shifts course from India to China midway

The shipment earlier bound for Gujarat’s Vadinar has changed course amid payment concerns; could still reach India if issues are resolved, according to Kpler.

India commissions its third nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine—INS Aridhaman

INS Arihant was first vessel under SSBN project and was quietly commissioned in 2016. The second indigenous SSBN, INS Arighat, was commissioned in August 2024.

Gulf war exposed India’s fragilities. It’s time for navel-gazing, in the national interest

It’s easy to understand why the government can’t speak the hard truth. When this war ends, as all wars do, India’s interests will lie with both the winner and the loser.