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Reflections on Nadir Shah’s exploits in India
Marking the 280th anniversary of Nadir Shah’s sack of Delhi, the author argues it shows the perils of a weak state, coming only 32 years after Aurangzeb’s death, when six…
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Hindu Integration: Brahmanas and Gramadevatas
The author argues the Rigvedic ‘one truth, many names’ pluralism is overstated, reads the Vasishtha hymns as integrating deities with different functions, and traces Brahmin integration of village deities such…
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Looking back at 2019 Maharashtra election
Looking back a year after the 2019 Maharashtra election, the author lists lessons: imagery and strong leaders matter, caste still counts, Shiv Sena left the NDA for survival rather than…
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Open Thread – 10/17/2020
Open thread, 17 October 2020: three new podcasts this week, including an interview with the author of 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed, and a warning that the poster may…
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An evening to remember - the chase, the hunt, the theft, and the meal
A photo-essay cross-posted from the author’s new Medium photoblog, describing an evening safari in Kenya’s Masai Mara when a cheetah chased a wildebeest herd and its meal was then interrupted…
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The rise of Indicus!
Discussing an ancient cattle genomics paper, the author notes a sudden, sweeping surge of indicus ancestry across the Near East between 2000 and 1500 BC, too abrupt to be mere…
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Their Muslim Problem—And Ours
On the row over an advertisement showing an interfaith marriage, the author argues critics dodge its gendered side, since Islam allows Muslim men but not women to marry out, and…
The Indian Subcontinent Argues with Itself
Sunday, 8 November 2026Since December 2010 · 4,170 posts · 93,920 comments
