Article/Essay
 17 May 2021 Article/Essay
Essay:
What do Indians Need: A History or the Past?
By Professor S.N. Balagangadhara
Former professor of the Ghent University in Belgium, and Director of the India Platform and the Research Centre Vergelijkende Cutuurwetenschap (Comparative Science of Cultures)

Unpublished paper – pl... Read More
 11 May 2021 Article/Essay
Quote:
"We know the West as the West looks at itself. We study the East the way West studies the East. We look at the world the way West looks at it. We do not even know whether the world would look different, if we looked at it our way. Today, we are not in a position even to make sense of... Read More
 10 May 2021 Article/Essay
Essay:
The Journey of Faxian to India

Between 399 and 414 CE, the Chinese monk Faxian (Fa-Hsien, Fa Hien) undertook a trip via Central Asia to India seeking better copies of Buddhist books than were currently available in China. Although cryptic to the extent that we cannot always be sure whe... Read More
 26 Nov 2020 Article/Essay
Essay:
Armagaon

'Armagaon or Armagon was the second colony of the English East India Company in Southern India. Its original name was Durgarazpatnam (Dugarazpatam) or Duraspatam.

It was chiefly inhabited by salt manufacturers. A small port 36 miles North of Pulicat it was the first place o... Read More
 19 Nov 2020 Article/Essay
Join Rare Book Society of India at: https://bit.ly/3j1Asz2

Essay:
Navaratri Reflection On 2,000-Year-Old Tamil Verses In Praise Of Durga
by Dr Kanniks Kannikeswaran
Published in Swarajya - Oct 24, 2020

If you wish to know how Tamil culture richly contributed to Devi worship, then a stud... Read More
 19 Nov 2020 Article/Essay
Essay:
The Meaning Of Durga
By David Frawley
Published in Swarajya - Oct 9, 2016

No country in the world demonstrates such enduring reverence for the Great Mother Goddess, as does India. The Goddess is celebrated in every form, aspect and quality, through music, art, ritual, mantra and m... Read More
 19 Nov 2020 Article/Essay
Article:
Ramayana is real, say experts
By Amar Tejaswi
Published in Deccan Chronicle - 2019

New research carried out by anthropological scientists from the Estonian Biocentre and the University of Delhi claims that events of the mythological epic Ramayana occurred in reality thousands of y... Read More
 14 Jul 2019 Article/Essay
Essay:
What Did J.D. Salinger, Leo Tolstoy, and Sarah Bernhardt Have in Common?
By A.L.Bardach
Published in Wall Street Journal - March 30, 2012

The surprising—and continuing—influence of Swami Vivekananda, the pied piper of the global yoga movement

By the late 1960s, the most famous writer... Read More
 13 Jul 2019 Article/Essay
Essay:
Remembering Vivekananda’s Chicago Address: A Speech That Transformed Western View Of India
By Sudarshan Ramabadran
Published in Swarajya - September 11, 2017

What was most astounding about Swami Vivekananda was that he was proud to be a Hindu, yet at the same time, he had a universal ap... Read More
 10 Jul 2019 Article/Essay
Essay:
Pratapgad Fort, Mahabaleshwar
Published in Atlas Obscura

This fortress played a key role in the battle that would ultimately give rise to the Maratha Empire.

The fortress of Pratapgad was completed in 1656 under the orders of the Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji. The construction of the ... Read More
 9 Jul 2019 Article/Essay
Essay:
Remembering the Jewish refugee who composed the All India Radio caller tune
By Naresh Fernandes
Published in scroll.in - Oct 24, 2014

Walter Kaufmann composed several early works that encouraged the interplay of East and West.

Listen here: http://bit.ly/2YzyWdY

All India Radio’s calle... Read More
 7 Jul 2019 Article/Essay
Essay:
From Mahatma Gandhi to Nehru, everyone was an MS Subbulakshmi fan
By Vikram Sampath
Published in The Print - 6 July, 2019

In 1926, a shy girl dressed in a traditional Tamilian attire of silk paavadai and davani, her thick curls pressed down with copious oil and a generous vermillion dot m... Read More
 5 Jul 2019 Article/Essay
Essay:
Legacy Of Kashmir, The Forgotten Land Of Beauty And Knowledge — Part I
By Professor Subhash Kak
Published in Swarajya - August 06, 2016

This is the first essay in a four-part series about the important contributions of Kashmir to Indian culture. It throws light on the early history of t... Read More
 4 Jul 2019 Article/Essay
Essay:
Difference between North Indian music and South Indian music
By Pratik Kashallu
Published in swarmanttra.com

Is that ‘Much Ado About Nothing?’ No certainly not…as both the basic types of Indian Classical Music, i.e. North Indian classical music and Carnatic Classical Music have some... Read More
 1 Jul 2019 Article/Essay
Essay:
Kesarbai Kerkar, the Indian voice that made it to NASA’s Voyager mission
By Vikram Sampath
Published in The Print - 29 June, 2019

Kesarbai Kerkar insisted on removing microphones, loudspeakers from the stage. If something annoyed her, she would cancel the recital midway.

What’s the I... Read More
 29 Jun 2019 Article/Essay
Essay:
Carnatic music - Centred upon centuries
By T. M. Krishna
Published in The Hindu - 22 January 2011

From the 15th century many treatises have documented and explained various aspects of music that give us a perspective of changes and developments. Below are some of them. Svaramela Kalanidhi... Read More
 29 Jun 2019 Article/Essay
Essay:
Sundarabai, the versatile singer-actor who helped women musicians herself died unsung & poor
By Vikram Sampath
Published in The Print - 16 June 2019

Sundarabai was witness to many changes in the world of music and entertainment, and helped several performers adapt to modern technology.

T... Read More
 28 Jun 2019 Article/Essay
Personality:
Ekla Chalo Re: This ‘One-Man Army’ is Saving India’s Pre-Radio Gramophone Recordings!
By Gopi Karelia
Published in June 3, 2019

15,000 gramophone records are a part of Archive of Indian Music (AIM) that aims to digitise and preserve some of the rare recordings from the pre-r... Read More
 27 Jun 2019 Article/Essay
Essay:
Gauhar Jaan, India’s first record artist, took Rs 3,000 a session & threw parties for her cat
By Vikram Sampath
Published in The Print - 5 May, 2019

Gramophone’s search for ‘native’ voices in 1900s brought it to India’s Gauhar Jaan, who would go on to have 600 records to her nam... Read More
 26 Jun 2019 Article/Essay
Essay:
Hindustani vocalist Abdul Karim Khan’s music has special relevance in these communal times
By Vikram Sampath
Published in The Print - 19 May, 2019

Listening to Abdul Karim Khan at the age of 11, Bhimsen Joshi is said to have made up his mind that this was how real music ought to be.

An... Read More
 25 Jun 2019 Article/Essay
Essay:
Bangalore Nagarathnamma, the singer who took to Sanskrit and feminism in 19th Century India
By Vikram Sampath
Published in The Print - 26 May, 2019

European record companies participated with artists like Nagarathnamma, a devadasi, at a time Indian society hounded them in name of morality... Read More