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Thursday, July 23, 2026
TopicThinking Medieval

Topic: Thinking Medieval

NTR Jr movie row is about 2 ideas of Murugan—mascot of Hindutva mythos vs Tamil-only icon

Two nationalisms are shouting past each other. One would dissolve Murugan into a pan-Indian Hindutva spectacle, while the other would make him an icon to be guarded against the North.

Ayodhya isn’t new. Chola kings were probing temple scams a thousand years ago

Chola inscriptions record treasure stolen by temple priests, donations used for tax evasion, and land scams that bankrupted entire villages.

How a jobs crisis helped Tibet become the centre of the Buddhist world

Once in demand as far as Japan, over the course of the 10th and 11th centuries, Indian Buddhist translators found both international and domestic opportunities drying up.

India’s water future is being built on myths about its medieval past

Outside the Vijayanagara king Krishna Raya's new city of Nagalapur, Hospet, Paes counted 15,000 or 20,000 labourers, crowding “like ants, so that you could not see the ground on which they walked."

The Netherlands is confronting its colonial history. It’s time for India to do the same

The fact remains that the VOC did not introduce debt bondage or human trafficking to the Coromandel Coast. It expanded and exploited existing systems.

Leiden Plates returned by Netherlands aren’t for ASI storerooms. They belong at Nagapattinam

The past decade under the Modi government has seen a dangerous erosion of evidence-based histories in India, owing to an ongoing neglect of both public universities and museums.

Pallavas to Mughals—a history of hero worship in medieval India

The preference for the performing ruler over the governing one is not just a pathology of today’s democracy. It has been ingrained into our politics for nearly one and a half millennia.

How pragmatic calculations shaped Mughal rule in medieval West Bengal and Tamil Nadu

In the late 18th century, Nawab Muhammad Ali Walajah shared his royal accoutrements—the markers of sovereignty—with both the Nathar Wali shrine and Srirangam in modern-day Tamil Nadu.

History of Indians in the Arab world—port builders, Jat governor, translators, and slaves

From the buffalo herders who built one of the world’s greatest medieval ports to academics translating Sanskrit works, here is one part of the history of Indians in the Arab world.

Sabarimala god Ayyappa has many meanings. One of his forms is a deity for women

Tamil Nadu’s village-god Ayyanar is converging with the epic mythology and pilgrimage of Ayyappa at Sabarimala. This will have long-lasting effects on both.

On Camera

Why the egg and Iskcon debate in West Bengal is more political than nutritional

Very few people cross the line between vegetarian and non-vegetarian purely for dietary reasons, unless this is what a particular person’s health needs dictate.

Why pro-investor AP, Telangana missed ‘top performers’ tag by a mile in NITI Aayog’s IFI rankings

The two Telugu states have been tagged ‘Frontrunners’ in rankings released last week, highlighting contrast between their industrial potential & on-the-ground performance.

46 cadres of banned Kangleipak Communist Party voluntary surrender in Manipur, hand over weapons

Defence ministry says the surrender ‘degrades’ operational capabilities of the militant outfit. Different KCP factions have also been involved in disturbances in Manipur since 2023.

BJP’s push for one-party state has a flip side. It could be Congress’s chance for revival

Even if it’s a municipal election someplace where the Congress is a cipher, you will find BJP targeting it. It’s an acknowledgement that Modi sees Congress, however battered, as his only likely challenger.