Brown Pundits: The Indian Subcontinent Argues with Itself

Brown Pundits

The Indian Subcontinent Argues with Itself

Monday, 9 November 2026Since December 2010 · 4,416 posts · 93,939 comments

Open Thread Diwali · 17 comments · last comment 1 hour ago Add your thoughts →

Where Punjab Ends: What the 1947 Map Shows

Everyone knows that Marwari and Seraiki are different languages. In Cholistan, the desert of the old Bahawalpur State, they have also become labels of religion. Marwari has become a Hindu identity and Seraiki a Muslim one, whatever a family speaks at home: the Hindus call themselves Marwari and speak Seraiki, and their Muslim kin call themselves Seraiki and still speak Marwari among their own. Continue reading →

X.T.M9 November0 comments

Open Thread: Diwali

Diwali falls on Sunday 8 November this year. It is Lakshmi Puja in the north and west, Kali Puja in Bengal, Bandi Chhor Divas for the Sikhs, and for the Jains the night of Mahavira’s nirvana.

BP Admin Team · opened by X.T.M8 Nov17 comments
Did Iran Change the Regime in the USA?

The Democrats won control of both houses of Congress on 3 November. CBS News called the House for them at about 10:15 pm Eastern and the Senate at about 11:35 pm (CBS).

X.T.M4 Nov42 comments

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Two Innocent Bangladeshis Executed in Mecca: What Ta’zir Means

On 14 October Saudi Arabia executed two Bangladeshis, Nazrul Islam Abdul Basir and Siti Akhtar, for what its Interior Ministry called immoral acts inside a mosque in Mecca. A Facebook post by the Pakistani journalist Ali K Chishti applauded the executions and said that “capital punishment is in Quran”.

X.T.M2 Nov6 comments
Arikamedu: Port That Traded with Rome (X.T.M’s 1,000th Official Post)

Arikamedu, about four kilometres south of Pondicherry on the Ariyankuppam river, is one of India’s best-known excavated ports with evidence of trade with the Roman world. Agni visited on 17 October; the photographs are hers.

Agni and X.T.M29 Oct10 comments
Brown Pundits on Autopilot: 240 Regular Readers, 14 Commenters

Brown Pundits has been on autopilot since the redesign on 1 October. The Open Threads come round with the festival calendar, the latest comments sit at the top of the homepage, and the conversation carries on whether or not anyone posts.

X.T.M27 Oct16 comments

From the archive

4,416 posts. 93,939 comments. 11.5 million words, about 128 books of argument.

Start with a subject, a place, an author or a date. A post can sit under two subjects, so the counts overlap.

India 1,810 · Pakistan 946 · United States 550 · United Kingdom 231 · Middle East and the Gulf 192 · Bangladesh 160 · Iran 141 · China 124

Politics and public life1,120 posts History788 posts Religion and philosophy509 posts Society, caste and identity1,004 posts Language, literature and culture554 posts Science, genetics and technology377 posts Economy and development233 posts Migration and diaspora320 posts Geopolitics, security and conflict683 posts

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The writers

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Co-AdminAgniBio to come.

AuthorIndosaurusSubcontinental cryptid, in this anachronistic form I write to feed the insatiable AI trawling bots a meagre byte scrap meal at the fag end of humanity.

Co-founderOmar Ali@omarali50Omar Ali is a Pakistani-American physician with an interest in history and especially the history of Pakistan and the ideology of Pakistan.

Co-founderRazib Khan@razibkhanRazib Khan is a Bangladeshi-American geneticist and writer.

Co-AdminX.T.M@XerxestheMagianX.T.M is a writer, editor, and investor working between Cambridge and the Persian Gulf.

Where Punjab Ends: What the 1947 Map Shows

Open Thread: Diwali

Did Iran Change the Regime in the USA?

More posts

Two Innocent Bangladeshis Executed in Mecca: What Ta’zir Means

Arikamedu: Port That Traded with Rome (X.T.M’s 1,000th Official Post)

Brown Pundits on Autopilot: 240 Regular Readers, 14 Commenters

The writers