It happened within minutes of waking on Thursday, 15 November 2018. By mid-morning, the sense of dread and despair had changed into an incredulous exasperation: An entire two-day programme featuring four classical artistes at New Delhi’s Nehru Park, co-organised by […]
‘Thugs of Hindostan’ is a satirical challenge to dominant nationalist narratives Critics have ranked Thugs of Hindostan as one of the worst high-budget films in Hindi cinema. The film gives several opportunities to the critics to be ruthless: A predictable […]
Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, in France on a state visit, inaugurated the Indian War Memorial at Villers Guislain on Saturday. Almost a century later, some of the 75,000 Indian soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice during World War I will […]
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at an exhibition on Temple Entry Proclamation at VJT Hall on Friday. Expo highlights how caste barriers were demolished A four-day exhibition on the Temple Entry Proclamation of 1936, which commenced at VJT Hall on Friday, […]
This excerpt from a new book explores the fate of the Brahmins of Benares, caught on the cusp of tradition and modernity in 21st century India One evening, a few days into my return to Benares, I was given a […]
Ajay Navaria began his academic career teaching Hindu religious scripture and ethics. This doesn’t sound particularly remarkable — not until placed next to the fact that his grandfather would have probably paid for it with his life had he harboured […]
Excluding menstruating women from the shrine also violates Article 17 — the Constitutional provision prohibiting untouchability Nearly a century ago, the princely state of Travancore was convulsing with the question of entry of lower castes into the temple at Vaikom. […]
Artist KM Madhusudhanan through his oil paintings, sculptures, and ink and charcoal drawings speaks about the caste system, still prevalent in the country, especially his homeland Kerala. The year was 1888 when social reformer Narayana Guru, born in an Ezhava […]
Today, as mobs of men and women stop female devotees from entering Kerala’s Sabarimala temple — despite a green signal from the highest court of the land — the stakes are equally high. Is temple entry to be the final […]
The two-hour-long Malayalam film tells the story of A. Raju, who was born in a tribal settlement inside Nilambur forest While the country continues to debate social exclusion and marginalisation of the third gender, the life and struggles of Kerala’s […]
