The Idea of India
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Believers, Blasphemers and Beggers In The City That Love Built And Life Sustains
When they celebrate the death anniversary of a saint, they come in crowds from far and near to his tomb; and reaching there on the day of the ‘urs’, they perform more devotions than they do for obligatory (Islamic) rituals. To solve their worldly problems, they address their supplications to the tombs…They pray to the [...]
Beyond Boundaries by Pankaj Mishra
India is one of the world’s oldest civilizations; but as a nation-state it is relatively very new, and its nationalism can still appear weak and unresolved, as became freshly clear in August, when the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party expelled its veteran leader Jaswant Singh. Singh had dared to praise, in a new book about [...]
Laying To Rest The Ghosts Of Ayodhya – The Liberhan Report Unveiled
The demolition of the Ram Janambhoomi Babri Masjid took place on sixth of December 1992 in the presence of national and local leadership. Cadres of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Bajrang Dal (BD), Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena (SS) along with their leaders were present at the spot. They [...]
Deconstructing Kashmir – Part II: Lost Paths To The Shared Or Historical Elisions That Divide
The principle of the national state, that is to say, the political demand that the territory of every states should coincide with the territory inhabited by one nation, is by no means so self-evident as it seems to appear to many people to-day. Even if anyone knew what he meant when he spoke of nationality, [...]
Still Looking For Answers In Ayodhya / Liberhan Report Published
What is happening in India is a new, historical awakening…Today, it seems to me that Indians are becoming alive to their history…Only now are the people beginning to understand that there has been a great vandalising of India…What is happening in India is a mighty creative process…the sense of history that the Hindus are now [...]
Deconstructing Kashmir – Part I: Colonial Photography & The Construction Of Paradise
The settler makes history and is conscious of making it. And because he constantly refers to the history of his mother country, he clearly indicates that he himself is the extension of that mother country. Thus the history which he writes is not the history of the country which he plunders but the history of [...]
The Rose Of Ajmer by Britt Sloan
Introduction:
His life has been draped with legends, many of which tell of his miracles and powers. One of the most popular legends is of the evil wizard Jaypal who, on the orders of a local raja, attempts to drive the Sufi fakir Moinuddin Chiti away from the region and attacks him with burning coals. But [...]
Rajasthan’s Cheeta-Merat And The Battle For Their Souls by Radihika Saraf
Introduction:
The Cheeta-Merat (also known as the Kathat) defy all conventional conceptions of ‘Hindus’ and ‘Muslims’, and practice a unique syncretic religion that combines elements of Islam and Hindusim. This little-known community, with an estimated population to be about 400,000, is spread across over 100 villages in the vicinity of Ajmer and Beawar towns in Rajasthan’s [...]