First let me share my annoyance with cows. Dare I call it a beef?
https://indosaurus.substack.com/p/cows-vs-buffaloes?r=1mp4jc
The scriptural form of hinduism is in little danger of being displaced or disappearing. It also has a lot of elements palatable to monotheists (advaita) & rationalists (the block determinant nature of the universe/ simulation theory)
Whereas the folk form, practiced mainly by lower castes which has less theology and more sacrifice/possession is often considered on par with devil worship by Christians/Muslims. Some of the deities named overtly as Satan/Shaitan.
For instance the buffalo deity of Kerala Vishnumaya Chatan (pictured), is easily corrupted to Satan. Rituals associated are considered black magic.
Adherents of the more rural folk forms are also often targeted for conversion. The political alliances of the Christians aligns strongly with lower castes in South India, exacerbating this process.
As India grows wealthier, urbanisation & social mobility also involves Sanskitisation. Ancient traditions are further eroded as outdated and irrelevant.
All is not lost though. Kantara was a shot in the arm. Other film makers sat up and took note of the spectacular nature of rural worship.
I updated the first article I had published on BP to acknowledge this development
https://indosaurus.substack.com/p/the-eyes-have-it?r=1mp4jc
I fear it is only a short reprieve. Eventually a lot of these traditions will slowly fall by the wayside, recreated only for entertainment. They have survived for millennia and are the oldest forms of worship in the subcontinent. The world is a duller place without them.
* I have no idea if ‘lower’ caste is the politically correct term anymore, forgive the plain speak. I desperately avoid talking about caste in general, unfortunately these articles all end up incomplete without it.
Nice article.
I loved to read to about the folk deities of India. I still remember Folk deities of South India when I first read it. My favorite deity centered around Khandoba of Jejuri. Loved the way he integrated every major community into his fold.
I think sanskritization is something that many folk traditions have lived with for centuries and will not have as much of a negative effect, except maybe many animal sacrifices will become rarer and rarer, like they have in Bihar.
I also think you over estimate the capability of christians in general,for starters christianity has been weak against religions with strucutre theology, which many of these traditions have, it has nothing much to offer to their day to day life aside from some placebo effect and the people following these religions are neither primitive, destitute or unexposed to modernity. They are the master of their fate and will more likely go the way Shri Jagannath or Shri Khandoba of Jejuri have gone as time goes on.
Some like Jhulelal have lost the splendour of festivals associated with them and remain only as totems.
I wonder what a Filipino traditionalist would think of the capability of Christians to proselytise? It is unfortunate that it is impossible to find one.
To be honest, I feel the greater danger is urbanisation, but people have a habit of bringing their gods along.
There is a temple right opposite our house that practise rituals involving animal sacrifice . They worship a folk deity who has been adapted to the fit the Shaivite tradition. Their faith is so much stronger that the educated lot inside our apartment complex. All this in Bangalore – as urban as it gets. The last word has not been written yet on the fate of these traditions.
//Some like Jhulelal have lost the splendour of festivals associated with them and remain only as totems.//
Isn’t this kind of an extreme example? The community most associated with Jhulelal was displaced from its homeland so things will change?
//I wonder what a Filipino traditionalist would think of the capability of Christians to proselytise? It is unfortunate that it is impossible to find one.//
Are you referring to traditional practitioners of Filipino indigenous religion? Well there are some, some are ok tiktok and Instagram, some are very open about their hostility to catholicism. I dont think it’s that difficult to find them if you search for them.
There are also some practitioners who are see their practice of catholicism as syncretism between native religiosity and mexican folk catholicism. So a diversity of opinions.
Urbanisation is a variable factor imo, it is more about whether the deity still has a role or not. I recall one instance of Mariamma who became a protector of truck driver from her role as a protector against malaria.
Deities, like languages have evolutionary pressures. A good environmentalist is always worried. Sometimes they adapt and thrive, sometimes devoured by an aggrandising hegemon, and sometimes abandoned without a practitioner.
I’ve some related material, but we can post it another day.
Sindhi, Punjabi, Kashmir (the Indus Hindus) & Parsi culture are very high-prestige cultures in a way so their disappearances are always mourned.
But they gain popularity since their constituents are so wealthy.
It’s more the poor tribal gods that will be edged out.
The patron family of our ancestral deity are, non coincidentally very well known to us. They have the responsibility of opening the festivities for the village fair. Unfortunately the person doing it has passed with both his sons settled in the US.
It went up and down a few branches and they found a replacement, but the risks to tradition can come from affluence too.
the Philippines has been institutionally Christian for 5 centuries?
5 centuries of being in an orphanage, sans name, sans mother, sans history. Serving the Brother in the name of the Father.
I don’t think Christians in India ever consider how much their salvation has been in the heathen masses.
Lose your identity completely with a transplant and your heart perpetually beats for a skin you cannot have and a thing you cannot be.
Every Christmas my father used to take me to visit 3 spinster sisters. They were ex school teachers/headmistresses, spoke impeccable english, baked rum cakes, spoke of their decades old trips to England where one of them had shook hands with a minor royal.
I heard that story every year, unlike Scrooge, it took me a while to understand its true import.
//5 centuries of being in an orphanage, sans name, sans mother, sans history. Serving the Brother in the name of the Father.//
The spread of catholicism in Phillipines, while involving destruction of pre colonial culture, the spanish simply lacked the means to govern the islands from Spain and Mexico. The actual governing was done by priests who had many villages under them were not that numerous to manage the number of people,as a result very less instances of separation from family, most of the catholicism that is practised is a creation of the phillipine people that combines mexican catholicism with pre phillipine beliefs, to create something that is unique, rooted and not a hand me down from the spanish.
Most Indian christian, may not be aware of the conversion journeys of everyone in the world, but our experience of taking christianity from the europeans, moulding it to your needs and creating something that is unique to them, and locally rooted is very common, among many christians in asia and africa. I feel that when people say that we lose our identity, they are either transplanting the experience of native tribes from the americas and australia, across all cultures where it does not fit so neatly or seeing identity itself too narrowly.
Were the spinsters anglos by any chance? They sound like anglos. Otherwise, if not, these sound like a normal westernized Indian tbh. I have met even people of Hindu backgrounds who are quite westernized, some of these guys not only think in english but even say they have a difficulty in relating to Indian culture. I am just trying to say, this kind of behaviour is not unique to christians.
They were not anglo Indian. Their father was an Anglican pastor though.
Interestingly these churches are now being displaced by the Evangelicals and incredibly even Mormons in that area. There is new money in the game.
You are completely right about the deep desire for the ‘foreign’ in India. I think there is a distinction in identity though.
Bobby Jindal’s portrait comes to mind.
//They were not anglo Indian. Their father was an Anglican pastor though.//
That kind of explains it. Was he Indian by any chance? Or he was a foreigner.
//Interestingly these churches are now being displaced by the Evangelicals and incredibly even Mormons in that area. There is new money in the game.//
I dont think it is money, if money is the main driving force, many traditional churches have much better financial resources and assets, as per the testimony it is better engagement and more intense services that attracts people to newer churches. Money of most of these churches come from the people who attend them regularly.
//You are completely right about the deep desire for the ‘foreign’ in India. I think there is a distinction in identity though.//
From my observation it is less desire, but just the way they have been brought up, if you grow up speaking english and thinking in english, reading and engaging in western culture and content and basically not having seeing any need for Indian culture and philosophy in their life.
It is not a desire that is just the way they have lived their life. Even these guys have limits though, they would probably hate Jindal because he is trying, many of them are just living the way they know how, in this case there is no difference whether one is hindu, muslim, christian or any other religion.
Cmon, you don’t think those 3 schoolteachers played their part?
They were always old and wizened when i met them, the father had long passed, but I don’t think there was any english bloodline.
Just good little colonised ladies.
Speaking of which, I was recently accosted by a couple of Japanese matrons at a supermarket.
This is quite unusual and after a couple minutes of getting flattered by them I asked if they were Christian. They gave a quick smile and asked me my opinion on the good book.
I smiled back, the Buddha is here, and he predates your good book.
Christianity in Japan is actually non invasive, no changes in diet, language, names, these ladies were indistinguishable except for their proselytising.
The Iberians were very ruthless in assimilation of the natives. The native religions of Spanish America +Brazil has vanished without a trace. Their native tongue is gone.
Philippines had a Hindu past. Nobody can remember any facts.
Goa was slightly better.
The converts have memories of their past. Hindu names have started reappearing, eg, dilip Desouza etc. Prabhus still keep their surnames eg. Peter prabhu.
Only in Tamilnadu and keralam, christians are not having Hindu surnames. Yet to see a Peter thevar or a George Nair.
Philipines was between Islamising Malay world, indigenous Austronesian and the wider (& older) Indic cultural sphere..
>>> I don’t think Christians in India ever consider how much their salvation has been in the heathen masses.
After an inquisition, the remnant ‘syncretism’ is just some ghost of a racial memory hollowed and insubstantial
Many communities in south America who have gone through an inquisition remember their past very well actually.
Most of this is because the inquisition itself is a blunt tool to enforce religiois orthodoxy in the first place as seen in Goa where most of the pre hindu practises among the catholics still persist as is the speaking of Konkani.
It is also because the Spanish simply lacked the capacity to meaningfully enforce orthodoxy to begin with.
Please take the time to actually find understand the culture of christian communities from the global south, while the Spanish did destroy the upper level of their culture, they could bot destroy the folk or popular levels of these religious practices, and much of what they practice is a creation by the natives themselves not some hand me down from the Spanish.
//The Iberians were very ruthless in assimilation of the natives. The native religions of Spanish America +Brazil has vanished without a trace. Their native tongue is gone.//
Most of the catholicism practised is a combination of Spanish catholicism and folk religions of native people created by the ancestors of native people.
It is wrong to say that the native tongue is not spoke, nahutl is still spoken in mexico, queuchua is still spoken in Argentina and Bolivia and Mayan languid speakers are still there as well.
These people also practise many rituals and cultural festivals that their ancestors did, look up at Inti Rayimi. There are even people who still dance to Ttaloc.
Spanish colonialism is weird in the sense that there are certainly groups like the Taino that are no longer there and completely assimilated like in cuba, then there are groups like the various nahuatl and Quechua and layan language speakers that had their own enclaves where Spanish control was limited and natives lived relatively free from exploitation and there are also places where native were reduced to serfs.
Basically the further away from political centers the lesser the control, and more persistence of ancient culture and language and religious rituals among the natives. But much of the pre Columbian culture and language still survives christianization.
//Philippines had a Hindu past. Nobody can remember any facts.//
The phillipines absolutely remember they were hindu once and Muslim as well. Their own historians have done great work on shedding light on the influence of Sanskrit and the way trading communities spread hindu-buddhism to their lands.
What is not there is some longing to return because like phillipines assimilated hindu buddhism, islam even catholicism is also their own and beyond the circumstances of its entry and the actions of the Spanish in erasing cultural memory, there is no overt regret that their catholic instead of hindu/ muslim/buddhist or something else.
//Goa was slightly better.
The converts have memories of their past. Hindu names have started reappearing, eg, dilip Desouza etc. Prabhus still keep their surnames eg. Peter prabhu.
Only in Tamilnadu and keralam, christians are not having Hindu surnames. Yet to see a Peter thevar or a George Nair.//
Every community in India knows they were hindu it is just that this is not something relevant to their identity.
And maybe kerala does not have hindu surnames anymore but Tamil christians definitely have the occasional hindu surname. There is definitely a Peter Thevar out there.
Mexican rain dances to Ttaloc:
It is from 5:03 but you should watch the whole video.
https://youtu.be/AGIWPIUCX_E?si=ZyVWFHRYjaVThsic
You can look at the below for knowledge of Filipinos on their hindu-buddhist history:
https://youtu.be/EolLSdAFnW4?si=72qpeop_1OElArU_
The problem in the phillipines is of interest and knowledge not lack of awareness that they were once hindu-buddhist.
His channel is very good I do recommend you seeing his other videos.
Inti Rayimi in peru:
https://youtu.be/Rc-Qs_e4zmo?si=pF0idmiojiLXVSUL
Please see the whole video. There are more recent videos of this festival as well
Everybody wants to decolonise in a search for their true selves.
I do find it strange that you downplay the horrors of the Spanish.
Perhaps Indian liberals are colonial about the colonies abroad and post colonial at home.
You can start up again tomorrow Aug 15th isn’t the day for it.
//I do find it strange that you downplay the horrors of the Spanish.//
I am not downplaying anything, I have been very open about the fact thst that the Spanish did destroy the upper layer of native culture and religions.
That they did genocide groups like the Tainos and in places where they had total control they destroyed all traced of native religoon and culture.
The thing is that the empire was too vast to control properly, the reason indigenous languages still survive today in the Phillipines and much of south americs and the catholicism is very heavily syncretized with native culture and ideas is that the practise and belief was made by the native people living there, not the Spanish.The Spanish may have been able to establish the hegemony of catholicism with their victories but it is the natives there who decided the content and character of the beliefs they are follwing. The Spanish are not good people to allow either syncretism or native languages to flourish.
The syncretism is not a mercy the Spanish allowed but something created by will of the people there.
The presence and celebration of native culture is not a legacy of decolonization but a legacy of culture the native people developed there itself. Acknowledging this is not being colonial, on my part,but understanding that cultures can take colonial ideas and make it their own.
There’s this bit in the Hitchikers guide about how people have this invisible force tendril tying them to a place, and when dispossessed, these tiny quantum based guilt filled force lines sever and lash about creating untold chaos. Oolon Colluphid is the post colonial philosopher of our time.
Anyway, it’s pretty subjective, as a heathen I choose to have a less charitable view towards these ‘syncretic beliefs’.
As an ancestrally converted you probably see the beauty in all that ‘civilising’ and the subsequent end products. Who am I to deny your self love.
The whole civilizational genocide thing the Spanish contributed to is disgusting. There is simply no other way to put it.
I agree the Spanish deserve all the scorn and many of the things they did is shameful.
Had the people in south america had immunity to small pox and measles, they would have been kicked out by their own native allies themselves.
But being afflicted by small pox really stacked the deck against the natives forever.
I dont care if the natives come to see the syncretic beleifs their ancestors created to deal with the world and situation they find themselves in with regret, but I still think being put in a situation with the whole world against you, with your culture basically being destroyed within a span of your own lifetime, taking things the colonist gave you combining it with your own beliefs and values and creating something that is your own to pass onto is admirable nothing about liking colonialism but admiring persistence and resilience in all it’s form.
It’s admirable in the sense when you see a blind person achieving a normal life. The fact they have gotten to the present in whatever state they have is a point to their resilience. The Spanish are almost entirely a detriment or irrelevant to the syncretism they have achieved.
I have been saying this repeatedly.
The Spanish are not the ones who made or created many of the cultural and social beleifs many of the native communities follow( the majority Mestizo are a different case entirely) that is entirely on the creation of the native communities in the aftermath of small pox and other disease wiping out like 90% of the population.
Given that Christians are still desperate to take the good word to the Sentinelese, even after knowing the devastation affected to uncontacted tribes, can we really blame small pox and ignorance of it?
American christians,especially evangelical christians are a world apart, I am not going to say all christians in the world are perfect but many of these guys lack basic humility and capacity for self introspection.
I dont think any Indian christian have gone to these groups after it was banned to interact with these group. Not for that matter Greek, Egyptian or even south American christians either. I dont know why you are assigning the quirks of one group of christians to every other christian, especiallt those in India who have not made any journeys since it was banned.
I dont get the point you are trying to make with regards to smallpox I hope you are not implying that I am passing off the Spanish actions on small pox? I am not and am saying that the Spanish got lucky that south Americans lacked immunity, we would be seeing a very different south america if the native had immunity.
Do you seriously believe Indian Christians don’t proselytise in India? I have been accosted all my life with papers and pamphlets and cakes and teachers getting us to sing gospel songs, nuns getting us to stand in the hot sun.
It happens at every level. The funny part is, now I know enough theology to question people about it, it gets awkward soon enough.
They do proselytize but they have not gone to sentinilese so I dont know why you are bringing an American evangelical in a discussion on Indian christian proselytizing.
Most Indian christians actively involved in proselytizing are just not very good at it. That is as much due to their lacking capability as much due to many ideas underpinning christianity having reached intellectual saturation.
As I have said there is very little christianity has to offer that others dont, some people may be very charismatic but even these guys can at best make hindus, muslims and Sikhs, just see Jesus as another god or teacher, they dont have it in them to.make people reorient their whole lives as per their whims.
A word of advice, the best way to understand a people is to look at them in the time and place they are living in. You really cant see how uncharismaric and ineffective most Indian christian proselytizers are if you compare them with other christians from across time and space, whose success is many time more due to luck, and your opponents being weaker politically or socially than anything else.
//As an ancestrally converted you probably see the beauty in all that ‘civilising’ and the subsequent end products. Who am I to deny your self love.//
I have never used civilising as term to describe this so I would like it if you would not put this in my mouth.
I dont consider what the Spanish did civilising but for the situation people were put in, and what their ancestors at least in south ameria had to go through, they came out with a culture that many of their descendant and I myself think is worth preserving
Acknowledging that this is not a hand me down from the Spanish has nothing to do with being charitable.
The word ‘civilising’ was the justification given for centuries, I am not at all suggesting you said it. But I do associate it with any defence.
I am not defending what the Spanish did.
I have not said a single good thing about the Spanish and called attention to them repeatedly
What I am only saying is that the syncretic religions practises in many erstwhile Spanish colonie, at least in south america, are not hand me downs and something the natives who lived in a time when their civilization collapsed created themselves.
Whatever the opinion of the coming generation of natives in these areas develop, I dont think the culture, religion, practise and belief their forefathers made should be treated as something apart from their legacy because of its association with Spanish only. That’s all.
>>>> I also think you over estimate the capability of christians in general,
This entire conversation started here, you’ve come a long way since. I think some level of paranoia is healthy given the history. Fool me once.
That was meant to refer to Indian christians when you showed worry that having similar political goals can lead to christianization which I have already said they lack the capability to do so.
This is not the 15th century, Indian christians have not gone through their own reconquista that sharpened all of their worse instincts as had happened with the Spanish and ultimately secularism is a thing that is widely accepted among christians.
The question of fooling you does not arise because Indian christians dont have the same cultural background as the Spanish in the 15th century did.
I went to church today for the feast of the assumption of mary today, after the service there was small flag hoisting ceremony on the church compound itself. Along with the national anthem, chants of Bharat Mata ki Jai and Vande Matram were made and even the priest gave a small speech about how we should cherish unity in diversity and no matter our differences we are all Indian.
There are simply no cultural forces that will motivate the christians in India in the 21st century,at least,to go the way of Spanish of the 15th century. Most communities are more likely to go the way of jacobite and Syro malabar instead.
And those are not the people I am worried about at all. Quite a few of my favourite people are Keralite Christians. They also are often to the right of my views.
This conversation is purely about the proselytising gang, and always has been, you can read back all my comments and the article.
//This conversation is purely about the proselytising gang, and always has been, you can read back all my comments and the article.//
One thing I have noticed in discourse around christian missionary work in India is that there is almost no reference to culture of the people doing the proselytizing
Many a times the Spanish and the British empires are brought into these conversations as if to say that the ones who are engaged in proselytizing are from the same cultural background as these people.
They are not, most of the actions of thr Spanish and british in the past is best understood through the circumstances of the time they lived in, since a lot of practise and belief is motivated more by that than many christians would care to admit.
Indian proselytizers are motivated by the time they live in and can range from either those who are copy’s of white evangelicals, businessmen who want to live off tithes and people who are more concerned with quality over quantity( wanting the people to be devoted rather than many followers)
As long as India remains a secular country where religion is not the basis of laws and abuse in general is not tolerated, these guys cant do anything.
I dont think that Indian christians as they are now can do anymore than retaining whst they have with the best they can hope for being that some among the many followers of Jesus, who worship other deities, among hindus and muslims make a complete switch. It will always be statistically significant because there is nothing revolutionary christianity can offer nor do they have the pull to get away with much. People like Pastor Bajinder Singh are not going go get parole anytime soon.
Sorry for the long reply.
You know, when I see white missionaries flying in to give lectures at the local church and then see Indians walking around distributing pamphlets soon after. It is pretty meaningless to keep everyones background separate and shut down that part of my brain about colonial history.
There are hoardings across town perpetually advertising pastor billy bob coming in for a special sermon.
Please feel free to draw fences and hard compartmentalise to justify looking at them with excitement.
To a lot of us heathens, we just watch it with disquiet.
You know that there are 1000s of christian churches right? Not all of them have white people coming from.abrosd as their highlight.
And not all white christians think like their 15th century ancestors either.
If you want to make a statement about a particular church, make it so. If you want to generalise then that is where issues come up because not all churches in India run on instructions from white people abroad.
Most of the hoarding I see in bangalore at least are almost always only advertising an Indian prosperity gospel preacher, yet to see any of the ones like you describe.
I dont want to be rude but if you dont compartmentalize, you dont see the differences between churches and cultures, you have an incomplete understanding of christianity in India, one that will cause a lot of concern but which will never be able to properly tackle any of those you are concerned with.
A smart christian proselytizer only needs to correct someone on how different they are from the image you portray and a lot of their job is done. It is a different matter many are not charismatic enough to build on these corrections so that’s that I guess.
//To a lot of us heathens, we just watch it with disquiet.//
It would be better to not watch but actually research and talk to many of these jokers, many times people always disappoint the images you have in their heads.
Since we’re moving on to the ‘with all due respect’, once again, you have difficulty staying on point.
The discussion is about Christians proselytising. Period. Non proselytising of however many churches are of zero concern.
If anything, i am greatful for their additional diversity.
The christian churches in India that do proselytize:
1) Are culturalt distinct from churches across time and space using European colonialism when they lack the same cultural background and resources to make a point ignores that these churches are neither in conflict nor being persecuted making any comparisons relevance questionable.
2) Most of the churches that do have connection with evangelical churches are not led by smart people, they can get a lot of people who are already christian, but getting people outside of them depends on charisma which is rare and even if someone is enthused it is mostly just adding Jesus as another deity.
3) The proselytizing churches led by Indians and largely based in India are dependent on the case either led by smart people or charismatic people but not smart charismatic people and are largely ineffective in proselytization outside of those who are already christian. Not common for someone from another religion to join other religions.
I really, really dont see how the above lunch of nobodies can do anything but cause harm to Most establish churches from where they get most of their members.
I dont care if you are vigilant or not but the current crop of christian missionaries lack the talent and capability to do anything more than keep the lights on.
😁, who is making meaningless generalisations now?
I am yet to find a christian proselytizer in India who is both smart and charismatic, till I do, I dont want to consider proselytizing as anything more than just a sisyphian effort that will leave at right where you started.
If you feel that you should be vigilant towards proselytizers, do so by all means, but have a look at them seperate from any other christian across time and space, you will probably feel a lot less concerned.
I dont want to waste the rest of the day so I am signing off, have a nice weekend and Independence day.
Right, now your personal experience is suddenly valid 😁….
I mean, this whole discourse on christian missionary work is entirely based on personal suspicion that many have towards them that they validate by examples from across time and space.
Actual data is hard to come by, not even christians who are involved in proselytization know how successful they actually are. And if we don’t know that we are purely in a realm of personal opinion.
If we were talking about xyz church we can actually go through what they say about themselves membership wise and validate it through third party surveys and censuses. We csn also have closer look at what the mission or faith statement is to know what their opinions on many things are, but when speaking at large, this before difficult to do.
😀 Happy Independence Day.
Happy Independence Day
excellent comment
I just read all 3 pieces.
https://indosaurus.substack.com/p/cows-vs-buffaloes?r=1mp4jc
https://www.brownpundits.com/2026/08/14/not-yet-a-requiem-for-the-deities-of-rural-india/
https://indosaurus.substack.com/p/the-eyes-have-it?r=1mp4jc
All are fantastic and have an anthropological take. I’ll comment in more detail.
yes they are. Thanks for pointing them out.
1) I feel advaita should be termed as ‘monoism’ and not monotheism, as in advaita one becomes Brahma after ataining requisite “gnana”.
2) sanskritization, a theory proponded by M N Srinivas, says that the so called local traditions and practices eventually become high end, ( hence sanskritization ) and eventually merge into mainstream.
3)
The above is dollu kunita which was essentially a religious rite has now become some thing to be performed in inagurations, and advt campaigns.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbiZkUFPjkg/?igsh=NDRra3Fhd3VwYWNi
Furthermore, the evolution of Christianity in an increasingly Hindu aware india is interesting. Large parts might end up it has happened in China, where christians adopt native Chinese practices.
Observances of onam in Kerala and pongal in Tamil nadu are some examples.
Many christians in India are already quite indiginized already.
They practise native culture, use concepts like advaita vedanta in formulating theology, and by and large dont think their religion is true one.
Here I am in agreement with you 100%, there are many Christians who have far stronger ties to being Indian than many who like to keep a leg in each pond, for instance I saw a BBC article listing Alia Bhatt as a British actress.
Tbf the Bhatts have been sketchy for a while now. Mahesh Bhatt is famously involved in the “Saffron Terror” branding exercise the Congress conducted post 26/11.
Her mother Sony razdan has a British passport.