The Supreme Court of India is finally moving towards a conclusion of the decades old Babri Masjid case. The final hearings will take place in the next week, and a judgement is likely by November. In this, the first of two posts, I present a “dummies” guide to this whole complex affair. If you’re too busy to read the whole post, the TL;DR right on top should help. TL;DR: Whether the mosque was built by Babur or his armies is... Read more
India’s textiles are intimately linked to its culture and Gods. For example, in Tamil Nadu, it was quite a common feature in the past for weavers to function out of temples. In fact, many of the weavers biggest “customers” were temples, which clothed deities in special cloth. This article is a brief look at some of the fabrics that have developed in Tamil Nadu’s temple towns, and how they are faring today. According to the Institute of Indo European Studies,... Read more
This post is a look at how the British Raj decimated the South Indian weaving community. In the next post I will be looking at some of Tamil Nadu’s textiles and how they have declined in the last two centuries. Since ancient times, textiles were important trade items exported from India. For example at Poompuhar, also called Kaveripoompattinam, located at the mouth of the Kaveri, fine cotton textiles, silks, painted and printed cottons, carpets and cushions were traded in vast quantities... Read more
Recently, India celebrated the 150th birth anniversary of Kasturba Gandhi, the wife of Mahatma Gandhi. A redoubtable and admirable lady, her life is a true inspiration in devotion and stoicness. Here’s a look at a few aspects of her life. Kasturba married Gandhi at the age of 14. They had 5 sons, the eldest one died early. She remained in India when Gandhi went to study in London. Her involvement with politics began in South Africa as she helped her... Read more
Moraridas Prabhudas Hariyani or Sant Morari Bapu was in the news recently for delivering a Ram Katha at UAE’s first Hindu temple. So I thought a little bit of a bio of this wonderful man would not be out of place. Morari Bapu was born in Gujarat. He grew up listening to folk tales from his grandmother and memorizing verses of Ramcharitamanas every day under the guidance of his grandfather who was a devotee of Ram. His grandfather’s brother was... Read more
This is just a short post of the situation of the Kashmiri Pandits over the last two decades, after the genocide and exodus from Kashmir. Since there is a lot of discussion on Article 370 in the news lately, I thought a short post would be interesting. I will be doing a more detailed post on Kashmiri Pandits a little later. Kashmiri Pandit Population No population census was taken in Kashmir in 1991 due to insurgency. Kashmir’s population at that... Read more
There are various branches of Judaism. One branch related to mysticism is Kabbalah, which is thought to have been around as an oral tradition since 1000BC, and it bears many striking similarities with the Hindu way of life. In this post, we look at a few of these amazing parallels. Similarities between Judaism and Indian culture The idea of emptiness or nothingness is important in certain traditions of Judaism, especially Kaballah. It is called Ayin in Hebrew, and literally means... Read more
Economic Indicators compared in first four years of NDA, UPA-I and UPA-II UPA I UPA II NDA Overall GDP Growth % 8.9% 7.2% 7.3% Agriculture GDP Growth % 3.8 4 2.4 Industry GDP Growth % 10.3 6.4 7.1 Services GDP Growth % 9.9 8.3 8.8 Inflation 5.8 10.4 4.7 Bad loans 52,000 crore ... Read more
India Pakistan Timeline Since 1947 Basic Stats Population of pre-Independence subcontinent: 400 million The British had ruled India (as a whole or parts of it) for 190 years officially, since the 1757 Battle of Plassey. Lead up to Partition The idea of Pakistan was as a homeland for Muslims, thought of in the late 1930s. An act of British parliament proposed a date for the transfer of power into Indian hands in June 1948. Plans for a partitioned India were... Read more
The Incident On Feb 14, a convoy of 78 vehicles carrying 2547 CRPF personnel left Jammu and headed to Srinagar. A 270-km journey on the Jammu-Srinagar highway. Around 3.30pm, an Scorpio car laden with explosives driving alongside the convoy crashed into one of the vehicles at Awantipora, 30 km from Srinagar. 42 CRPF personnel were killed. Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), claimed responsibility for the terror strike. The suicide bomber was Adil Dar, a 22-year-old Kashmiri local and high-school dropout. He had been... Read more
Hindu 2.0
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