Article/Essay
 31 Mar 2013 Article/Essay
Essay:
Kāvali Brothers and the Origins of Modern Historiography in India
By Rama Sundari Mantena
Assistant Professor of History, Department of History,
University of Illinois

I have been engaged in the study of everyday practices surrounding the acts of collecting, surveying, and antiquarianism ... Read More
 30 Mar 2013 Article/Essay
Artice:
The Second Brother
By S. Muthiah
The Hindu - 2009

I return to the Kavali family and this week recall the contribution of the second brother, Lakshmaiah, whom Colin Mackenzie described in 1808 as his “Head Interpreter and Translator.” Boraiah, who joined the Mackenzie team c.1796, di... Read More
 30 Mar 2013 Article/Essay
Article:
The earliest Indologists?
By S. Muthiah
The Hindu - 2009

Curiously, Mackenzie, who came out to Madras in 1763 as an Ensign in the Madras Engineers and died in 1821 when serving as the first Surveyor-General of India, neither spoke nor read any Indian language. His interest in inscriptio... Read More
 26 Mar 2013 Article/Essay
Essay:
Painting Processions:
The Social and Religious Landscape of Southern India in a 'Company’ Album
By Crispin Branfoot

Travellers and residents in foreign countries often take home images of the places and people they have encountered, both as personal mementos and to inform their frie... Read More
 25 Mar 2013 Article/Essay
Article:
Pioneers of Orientalism at the VOC - Phillipus Baldaeus
By Luba Zubkova

Another missionary who came to Ceylon upon the conquest of Colombo by the Dutch in 1656 was Phillipus Baldaeus
(1632-1672). A talented cartographer and writer, the Company appointed him a predicant responsible for c... Read More
 15 Mar 2013 Article/Essay
Essay:
James Fergusson and Indian Architecture
By Takeo Kamiya

"...The revivalists such as Pugin and George Gilbert Scott (who would design the Library and Convocation Hall of Bombay University in India afterward) spread the trend of 'praise to the Middle ages' among British architects, in d... Read More
 9 Mar 2013 Article/Essay
Article:
Reviving past glory
By Sudha Menon
Hindu Business Line

What do fashion designer Rohit Bal, film-maker and designer Muzaffar Ali and ethnic Indian designer-wear stylist Ritu Kumar have in common with the scion of the erstwhile Indore royal family, Shivajirao `Richard' Holkar? All of... Read More
 8 Mar 2013 Article/Essay
The Intrepid Queen - Rani Abbakka Devi of Ullal
By Dr. Neria H. Hebbar

Little is written about the valiant Queen of Ullal in the history books. In her infallible bravery and indefatigability she is in par with legendary Rani Laxmi Bai of Jhansi and Rani Chennamma of Kittur, who fought the ... Read More
 7 Mar 2013 Article/Essay
Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar

It was the speciality of Holkar family that they did not use public funds to meet their personal and family expenses. They had their personal funds accruing from their private properties. Devi Ahilya inherited a personal fund which at that time was estimated to be around s... Read More
 7 Mar 2013 Article/Essay
Ahilyabai Holkar: A magnificent ruler, saintly administrator
By Eleanor Zelliott
Manushi (May-June 2001)

India has had many female rulers, warrior women and poet queens, but Ahilyabai Holkar commands more affection and respect for her accomplishments during her 30-year-long reign than any o... Read More
 3 Mar 2013 Article/Essay
Essay:
1st Bengal Lancers - Skinner's Horse

Colonel Skinner

The son of Hercules Skinner, a Scotsman, and an Indian Rajputni. This couple had three sons and three daughters, James being the eldest. Hercules was determined to have his daughters educated even though he knew that his wife was immut... Read More
 20 Feb 2013 Article/Essay
Article:
Conservation of Indian Mica Paintings
By Mike Wheeler
Senior Paper Conservator, Paper Conservation, V&A

The V&A has a collection of about seven hundred paintings on mica originating from India which include examples from Murshidabad, Patna and Benares in eastern India and from Tric... Read More
 18 Feb 2013 Article/Essay
Essay:
"Yesterday's Pomp, Today's Circumstance"?
By Shashi Kolar

The thorny question of the legacy of the British Empire upon the social, political and economic climate of India always excites polarized debates. Many urban Indians, bred with Western mores that emphasize the superiority of reason... Read More
 13 Feb 2013 Article/Essay
Essay:
The Ashtavaidya Physicians of Kerala: A tradition in transition
By Indudharan Menon and Annamma Spudich
National Center for Biological Sciences,
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bangalore, India

During 1997-2001, we held several conversations with two of the Ashtavaidyas of... Read More
 13 Feb 2013 Article/Essay
Ayurveda: An Alternative or Compementary Medicine?
By Dr.Robert E. Svoboda

Question: How can we understand Ayurveda?

The Ayurvedic model takes the approach advocated by Michael Polyani, who in his classic book Personal Knowledge showed that (even though most scientists like to claim otherwise)... Read More
 13 Feb 2013 Article/Essay
PUNDIT D. GOPALACHARULU was instrumental in restoring the lost glory of Ayurveda (an ancient Indian system of medicine and healing), at a time when western medicine was beginning to gain acceptance. Born in 1872, at Machilipatnam (now in Andhra Pradesh) he studied in the Maharajah's Ayurveda Ori... Read More
 10 Feb 2013 Article/Essay
Essay:
The Anatomical Man And His Sanskrit Context
By Dominik Wujastyk

"A widely-known painting currently in the Wellcome Library depicts an anatomical view of the male human body according to the tenets of classical Indian medicine, or ayurveda. The painting is surrounded by text passages i... Read More
 9 Feb 2013 Article/Essay
Essay:
Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray:
An epitome of scientific attitude and human values
By Soumitro Banerjee

Prafulla Chandra’s unique contribution: The history of chemistry in India

From his childhood, Prafulla Chandra was interested in history, and as a chemist it was natural to be cur... Read More
 7 Feb 2013 Article/Essay
Article:
When Tipu Sultan sought French aid...
By K.R.N. Swamy
The Tribune - June 1999

By the end of the 18th century, in India, the English East India Company was fast developing as the empire building arm of the British Government. But it found its aims being thwarted by the famous Tipu... Read More
 2 Feb 2013 Article/Essay
Essay:
1812: How Napoleon and Paul I were about to conquer India

When people speak about Napoleon Bonaparte they usually recall his military campaigns in Europe and do not pay attentions to the fact that the dream of all his life was the conquest of India.

His famous Egyptian campaign in 1... Read More
 26 Jan 2013 Article/Essay
Article:
The Constitution long before the review
By H.Y. Sharada Prasad
Spectrum - March,2000

WHO is the author of our Constitution? To that, many people would say: "What a question! Every one knows it is Dr Ambedkar."

But Ambedkar himself shied away from claiming that title for two reasons. On... Read More