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Thursday, January 29, 2026
TopicThinking Medieval

Topic: Thinking Medieval

Brahmins weren’t always ‘dominant’ in medieval India. How history can decode UGC controversy

Temples, military labour markets, and land-grant regimes structured medieval caste hierarchies. Today, access to education, employment, bureaucratic categories, and media platforms do.

From Bronze Age migrations to British Raj—how ideas stopped flowing between India and Iran

As early states developed in the Iranian plateau and northern India, ideas continued to circulate between the steppe and the settlements of the Iranian plateau and the Punjab plains.

Why Bihar migrates has a 500-year old answer — from Mughal taxpayers to peasant warriors

Migration in North India isn’t just due to lack of development today. It was shaped by the evolution of labour markets under Sher Shah, Mughals, and the East India Company.

Not just Nehru, even Hindutva stems from Macaulay legacy

The Indian Right and Liberals all accepted the British conception of Hindu, Muslim and British India and the country's eventual decline. What they disagreed on was its cause.

Zohran Mamdani’s New York win revives a forgotten history — of Gujarati Muslim cosmopolitanism

From Mughal ports to Dutch wars to Bombay’s merchant dynasties, Gujarati Muslims once shaped the Indian Ocean world — long before one of their descendants took New York.

Nur Jahan to Chand Bibi—Indian women in sports have been erased from history

Dice have been found dating to the Bronze Age in various Harappan sites in present-day northwest India and throughout Pakistan. And it’s very possible that some had female owners.

Here’s how Khilji, Akbar, and Hindu rulers dealt with Halal

In Medieval India, the late Prof Satish Chandra demonstrates how Muslim rulers in India quickly grasped that pristine notions of Halal and haram did not hold up to the realities of statecraft.

How did Nepal become a ‘Hindu Rashtra’?

Nepal called itself ‘world’s only Hindu kingdom’ for much of the previous century. However, for most of history, the country was religiously, politically, and ethnically fragmented.

Fatehpur Sikri was extraordinarily well-provided with water. Lessons for modern India

How three of the most important medieval metropolises—Vijayanagara, Bijapur, and Fatehpur Sikri—managed the challenges of inclement weather.

What a Tamil town tells us about votes, caste, and fraud in medieval India

Nepotism seems to have been a concern in Uttaramerur elections. That's why the drawing of ballots was done by a child and executives' relatives were banned from being elected.

On Camera

Economic Survey 2025-26 takes global lessons seriously—and shows why Swadeshi is the way to go

The Economic Survey 2025-26 is not a celebration of success, but a measured warning that the traditional paradigms of global economic growth are no longer applicable.

Economic Survey backs skilled visas to give IT services sector a boost, green energy for data centres

The IT services sector contributed more than half of India’s Gross Value Added, serving as a major driver of exports and employment, the Economic Survey 2025-26 has found.

Indian Army ties up with US drone company that made its name in the Ukraine conflict

Shield AI will provide V-BAT vertical takeoff & landing drones along with licences for software, which will be integrated into aircraft and made available to select Indian partners.

Non-alignment is coming back in a new avatar: Trump-peedit alliance

No nation other than China can negotiate one-on-one with Trump on an equal footing. That’s why the middle powers who so far formed the core of multilateral bodies now feel orphaned.