Ishwar Sharan's Blog, page 169

Caste is a socio-political institution – Sandhya Jain

Caste is too complex to be tackled by simple bans. Also, blatant appeals to religion, caste and other parochial loyalties have always been prohibited and there is no dispute regarding the Supreme Court’s attempt to lift politics above narrow identities. However, … not one word of criticism has been ever uttered when the Catholic Church repeatedly […]

Makar Sankranti: When did we first celebrate Surya? – Raj Vedam

We now define Makar Sankranti as the date when from an Earth-bound observation point, the Sun enters the Makar Rashi, also called Capricorn. — Dr Raj Vedam The widespread celebration of the Makar Sankranti festival and its many regional variations hint great antiquity. In this article, we will take a journey through time, weaving together […]

Jallikattu: Bull taming is cruelty at its best – Gauri Maulekhi

“The Constitution of India says that it shall be the fundamental duty of every citizen of India to protect wildlife and to have compassion for all living creatures. Jallikattu, bull races and bull fights goes against this constitutional requirement of all Indian citizens. … ‘Tradition’ is never a sufficient justification for cruelty, and a cruel […]

Trump and Modi are very different leaders – M. D. Nalapat

Modi and Trump are vastly different from each other, although the US and India are of course coming closer and will do so with accelerated speed once January 20 sees the 45th President of the US take charge of the world’s most consequential country. – Prof M. D. Nalapat November 8, 2016 was a hugely consequential […]

Muslim Brotherhood: Combating Political Islam – David Reaboi & Kyle Shideler

The Muslim Brotherhood is at the center of Islamic ideological extremism throughout the world. The Jamaat-e-Islami Hind and the Jamaat-e-Islami Kashmir are its Indian affiliates. This article concerns the Brotherhood and its affiliates in the USA. Throughout his presidential campaign, Donald Trump voiced beliefs about national security that many Americans have shared since, at least, the early days […]

Christian missionaries will not succeed in India – Mohan Bhagwat

“We have forgotten ourselves. We are all Hindus. Let our castes, languages we speak, regions we come from, gods we worship be different. Those who are sons of Bharat Mata, are Hindus. Hence, India is called Hindustan,” – Mohan Bhagwat Raking up the issue of conversions, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said such attempts are unlikely […]

VIDEO: Major General Bakshi discusses India, Pakistan, China, and the USA – Rajiv Malhotra

  Filed under: china, geopolitics, india, pakistan, USA Tagged: ancient india, geopolitics, india-china relations, india-pakistan relations, india-US relations

Mainstream and marginal tribes in ancient India – Michel Danino

Was there … a “mainstream vs. marginal” duality in ancient India? The caste system … built its own categories, but tribals were not regarded as sharply separate from “mainstream” society. Interestingly, there is no word for “tribe” in Sanskrit or, so far as I know, in any Indian language; there are terms equivalent to “forest […]

Can Devdutt Pattanaik really save Hinduism from Western distortions? – David Frawley

Devdutt Pattanaik is a popular interpreter of Hindu sacred stories, what are now, not always respectfully, called “myths”. In a recent article “From Macaulay to Frawley, from Doniger to Elst: Why do many Indians need White saviours”, he claims that “Indians do not really need Europeans and Americans to tell them what Hinduism, Sanskrit or […]

Indraprashta vs. Dinpanah: Nothing communal about the name Indraprashta – Koenraad Elst

Indraprastha was founded as the capital of the Pandavas’ small-time kingdom but the area was destined by fate to become the capital of the Delhi Sultanate, the Moghul Empire, Samrat Hemachandra’s short-lived empire, British India spanning the whole subcontinent, and now the Indian Republic. It is a source of pride, and worth celebrating, that here, […]