Columnists
Priyadarshi Dutta
Diagnosing Islam's disquiet
Bernard Lewis, who passed away recently, was a doyen of Ottoman and Arab history. In his work, he explained why Muslims have shared an uneasy relationship with modernity and the West Bernard Lewis (1916-2018), the renowned American scholar of Islamic and Middle Eastern history, passed away recently at 102....
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Clash of theology and astronomy
The conflict of disciplines as evident in the Islamic calendar is because Islam follows a lunar calendar of 354 days, and is, therefore, naturally out of sync with the seasons Ramazan, the ninth month of the Islamic Calendar, began on May 16 and will conclude on June 14. Considered to be...
Rethinking minority status for Lingayats
‘Lingayatism’ is about shunning pretention and leading a sincere and spiritual life while staying engaged with the world. Hindu society has never been averse to reforms — from Buddha to Ambedkar, though they might have been critics of Hinduism, all have been welcomed What makes Lingayats think that they have everything...
The tragedy of Vikram Samvat
Demand to declare Samvat as India’s national calendar is actuated by ideology and isn’t pragmatic. Cultural hype cannot be a substitute for computational aspects Recently, the commencement of the Vikram Samvat, 2075 led to a torrent of good wishes in the social media space. Its northern variant began on March 18,...
Recalling the Greek who espoused India
Demetrios Galanos, the 19th century Greek Indologist, embraced and enriched both Indian and Greek culture through his knowledge quest and deep insights. No wonder both India and Greece are recalling him more than Alexander today Two hundred years ago, there lived a Greek ‘Pundit’ by the name Demetrios Galanos (1760-1833) in...
It’s Dayanand versus Darwin
Satyapal Singh and his ilk's aversion to evolution seem intricately linked to the views of Swami Dayanand Saraswati, founder of the Arya Samaj and contemporary of Charles Darwin The Union Human Resource Development Minister (HRD) has done well to contain the damage in the Darwin debate by affirming that the government...
Jerusalem’s demographic reality
Trump's move to shift the US embassy to Jerusalem has created flutters in diplomatic circles. But why and how Israel took over East Jerusalem seems to be a forgotten chapter Jerusalem is in news again. The Trump Administration has decided to shift the US embassy in Israel there from its current...
Why Sanskrit remains confined
Sanskrit declined after it ceased to be a medium of knowledge production in medieval era. Learning is the first step to resuscitate the language. But one doubts if it was made for a competitive environment National Sanskrit day is observed annually on Shravan Purnima, which coincides with Raksha Bandhan. Observances are...
Religious hegemony in Bengal?
It is a myth that the State has been free of communal violence . If we track the path of history, there are numerous dividing forces at play, constantly changing faces June 23 marked the 260th anniversary of the Battle of Plassey which led to the cessation of centuries-old Muslim rule...
The broom no longer cleans
The debacle of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the recent municipal elections in Delhi, which it badly needed to win, confirms a pattern in its downslide. Coming in the aftermath of its candidate Harjeet Singh losing his deposit in the Rajouri Garden by-poll, its failure to win Punjab and discomfiture...
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