One of the distinctive features of the protracted Muslim rule in medieval India was the heartless manner in which it comprehensively impoverished Hindus—physically, spiritually, morally, culturally, and economically. This impoverishment was by design, and it was largely faithful to the tenets of Islamic statecraft and polity, which mandated zimmi
Yayati is Girish Karnad’s first play, written in Kannada when he was twenty-three years old. It is also his seminal work of cultural vandalism, his first attempt at massacring everything that the Indian tradition and culture holds sacred, sublime, elevating, and valuable. Published in 1961, the instant success
In my memoriam essay on Girish Karnad’s death, I had remarked that Girish Karnad was a mediocre director and a terrible playwright. Starting with this piece, we will examine a few prominent plays and cinema of Girish Karnad if only to puncture the hot-air balloon of unearned fame
An obituary on the passing away of Girish Raghunath Karnad
In this Series Part 1: UNMASKING THE MAHATMAHOOD OF GANDHI: R.C. MAJUMDAR’S FRANK ASSESSMENT OF MOHANDAS GANDHI Part 2: INDIA’S INDEPENDENCE WAS SECONDARY TO MOHANDAS GANDHI: R.C. MAJUMDAR UNMASKS GANDHI Part 3: THE MISGUIDED MYSTIC’S MISADVENTURES: R.C. MAJUMDAR’S ASSESSMENT OF MOHANDAS GANDHI’S
Today is the day we commemorate the sacred memory of one of the greatest Hindu heroes of all time: Pratap Singh I Sisodia popularly respected as Maharana Pratap. This unparalleled warrior and imposing Kshatriya lionheart was fittingly born in the formidable fort of Kumbalgarh. There was no room for weakness,
An essay unearthing some lesser known facts about Doon School, an institution attended by the children of India's elite
Nobody—including me—perhaps knows who Baba Madhavdas was. Suffice to say that he was akin to the countless millions of Sadhus and Babas who dot the sacred geography of Bharatavarsha who do no “productive” work but without who Bharatavarsha will lapse and descend into India. I first read about
In this Series Part 1: UNMASKING THE MAHATMAHOOD OF GANDHI: R.C. MAJUMDAR’S FRANK ASSESSMENT OF MOHANDAS GANDHI Part 2: INDIA’S INDEPENDENCE WAS SECONDARY TO MOHANDAS GANDHI: R.C. MAJUMDAR UNMASKS GANDHI Years before R.C. Majumdar wrote his classic and authoritative History of the Freedom Movement in
In the previous part discussing R.C. Majumdar’s frank and objective critique of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, we had seen how Majumdar showed, using Gandhi’s own words, that Satyagraha had no fair role in India’s struggle for freedom. In the present episode, we present a continuation of the