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Friday, December 19, 2025
TopicThinking Medieval

Topic: Thinking Medieval

Vedas don’t mention Hindu pilgrimages. When did they become mainstream?

Hinduism is, above all, a religion in motion. More importantly, the loud online proclamations of what Hinduism 'really' is is part of the religion’s endless flexibility.

Was sati a British myth about India? Medieval memorial stones hold the truth

After Amish Tripathi and Bhavish Aggarwal questioned the reality of sati, liberals are claiming that the ritual was endemic to Hindu society. Neither have it completely right.

A Chola queen shaped Hinduism like no one else. Yet you haven’t heard of her

Sembiyan Mahadevi, a 10th-century Chola queen, reshaped Hinduism through temple patronage and art. Her vision turned Nataraja into the most iconic symbol of Shiva.

It was a Tamil merchant guild that helped Rajendra Chola become a global conqueror

As much as kings, Tamil merchants are the unsung heroes of medieval India’s global footprint. Sometimes, cultural diasporas can achieve as much, if not more, than an armed force.

How Rajaraja Chola became the world’s richest king

Rajaraja alone gifted 38,604 gold coins. This was more than what most European courts at the time could muster.

Brahmins, Mughal yogis, British propaganda–How Kumbh Mela became world’s greatest gathering

Historical documents suggest the Kumbh Mela is only 150 years old, but it stands as a testament to Hinduism’s amazing ability to reinvent itself under changing regimes.

A Sanskrit Bible story was written in Ayodhya. The patron was a Lodi, the poet a Kshatriya

Sanskrit poetry did not simply disappear under Sultanate rule: it continued to evolve, and was enriched by contact with Persian and Arabic literature and stories, both Christian and Muslim.

Ajmer Dargah survey isn’t about righting historic wrongs. It’s an assault on Indian history

There is nothing a premodern Muslim ruler, teacher, or devotee could ever do to be accepted as Indian by the far Right—even if premodern Hindus accepted or even worshipped them.

Hindus didn’t drive missionaries away in Jharkhand. Adivasis held their own, whoever the coloniser

From the British perspective, Adivasi hostility to the colonial state was simply ethnic hostility from the savage against the civilised. Nothing could be further from the truth

What Arthashastra tells us about strongmen rulers and autocracies in ancient India

Americans might be puzzled as to why an autocratic strongman holds such appeal with voters. But it’s a story India has seen a thousand times in our ancient politics.

On Camera

Bondi Beach attack holds lessons for India too — soft targets remain terror’s first choice

India’s counter-terror focus must go beyond organised modules to include individual radicalisation, mental health-linked violence, and spontaneous attacks in public spaces.

Antitrust watchdog Competition Commission to probe IndiGo flight disruptions

While the commission didn’t mention provisions under which IndiGo's market domination would be examined, Competition Act 2002 prohibits abuse of dominant position by any enterprise.

Israel has ‘realised who its real friend is’, eyes defence expansion in India amid arms curbs by others

It is argued that India-Israel ties are moving from buyer–seller dynamic to one focused on joint development & manufacturing partnership, a shift 'more durable' than traditional arms sales.

India’s top airline just handed sarkar the keys. That’s IndiGo’s real ‘crime’

Don’t blame misfortune. This is colossal incompetence and insensitivity. So bad, heads would have rolled even in the old PSU-era Indian Airlines and Air India.