There is nothing that quite mimics the bloodsport and realpolitik of Game of Thrones like Indian politics. Hereditary houses and regional satraps are now collapsing as a dragon-bellied leviathan engulfs India in an unending fire. From the ashes of the old guard spawn new elites eager to stamp themselves into the saga of the saffron … Continue reading The Indian Overton: Saffron Secularism
Nowhere does antiquity animate politics and society like India. Some pan on for a golden age of yore that is more myth than matter. Others want to incinerate the past as they view it as an age of oppression and inherent ignorance. Still, some are completely ambivalent to it, viewing attachments to the era of … Continue reading The Dance of Indian Modernity and Tradition
I want to make a short and quick comment about a style of argumentation that I’ve noticed in people from the Indian subcontinent (though not exclusive to them). In addition to verbosity, there tends to be an aggressive hyperbolic emotionality. That’s fine if you want to scream on cable television, but it’s really hot air … Continue reading Epoche and detachment in analysis
A few months old, but worth a read. From Dr Hamid Hussain 20 January 2022 “A friend is someone who tells you the truth; not someone who believes in you”. Late King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz. I usually do review of army chief’s tenure. I do critical part when chief is in uniform and … Continue reading General Qamar Javed Bajwa
It is often argued by supporters of the Aryan Migration Theory, including academics, that the data obtained from the discipline of linguistics makes it impossible to posit the Indian subcontinent as a potential Indo-European homeland. We often hear and read such blithe dismissals, Long before the IE proto-language was an issue, Friedrich Schlegel recognized the … Continue reading Can Linguistics prove AMT & reject OIT ?
The early 2010s saw the internet (particularly youtube) filled with “Takedown” videos of famous public intellectuals and debaters of the likes of Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, Jordan Peterson, Ben Shapiro. These figures typically have a contrarian take, rhetoric flourishes, exuberant confidence, and sometimes even persuasive arguments. As Youtube and Takedown videos become popular in India, … Continue reading India that is Bharat — The Good, the Bad and the Overstated
Another BP Podcast is up. You can listen on Libsyn, Apple, Spotify, and Stitcher (and a variety of other platforms). Probably the easiest way to keep up the podcast since we don’t have a regular schedule is to subscribe to one of the links above! In this episode of Browncast Omar and I (Gaurav) talk to Rahul Pandita, the journalist and author. … Continue reading BrownCast with Rahul Pandita on Kashmir, Delhi Riots, Maoism
A year after my blog post on the topic of the Aryan invasion, I am revisiting the topic on Brownpundits, not as a query into the historical question but as a question of identity and politics. The Aryan debate touches a variety of political faultlines in India and hence is not going to be settled … Continue reading Why the Aryan debate matters and why it should NOT
From Gypsy Syed. The Plagues of Amwas and Justinian: The 200 years long series of plagues and pestilence and the conquest of Muslims over Rome and Persia 0 gypsyheart – September 7, 2021 @ 6:49 pm · Filed under Uncategorized Part 1: During Umar bin Khattab’s caliphal rule, early Muslims experienced a sum of disasters which … Continue reading The Plagues of Amwas and Justinian: The 200 years long series of plagues and pestilence and the conquest of Muslims over Rome and Persia
An interesting sidelight from Islamic history, by Ali MInai. Originally published on his blog “Barbarikon“, reposted here with Ali Minai’s permission. The Caliph and the Imam A Shocking Decision Sometime in 816 CE – year 200 in the Hijri calendar of Islam – the seventh Abbasid Caliph al-Mamun made a very strange decision. If near-contemporary … Continue reading A Shocking Decision
