Brown PunditsA Deccani miniature of a dancing girl tying her hair, Golconda, about 1700

The Indian Subcontinent Argues with Itself

Monday, 19 October 2026Since December 2010 · 4,162 posts · 93,592 comments
Latest comment Indosaurus on Ambedkar’s Grammar of Anarchy and the Diaspora Letter · ago Open Thread: Navarātri and Durgā Pūjā →

  • Ambedkar’s Grammar of Anarchy and the Diaspora Letter

    A statement titled “Spare India from Anarchy” began circulating in Indian diaspora WhatsApp groups on 14 October, four days after the Delhi lockdown described in The Raj With a New Flag. It is signed by “Indian-origin academics, students and alumni of universities outside India”, collects names through a Google Form, and rests its argument on a line from B. Continue reading →

    X.T.M19 October1 comment

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  • Open Thread: Gandhi Jayanti

    Today is Gandhi Jayanti, 157 years since Mohandas Gandhi was born in Porbandar. This is the Open Thread for it: talk about Gandhi, or about anything else. Kabir suggested a new thread every 100 comments.

    BP Admin Team · opened by X.T.M2 Oct97 comments

  • A new look for Brown Pundits

    I spent last night unclogging nearly 16 years of Brown Pundits. First, I made a full backup of the site. Every post (about 3.4 million words, the length of 35–40 medium-sized books) and all 93,281 comments now sit safely off the server.

    X.T.M1 Oct42 comments

  • Izzat Maxing

    Q contends that no India–Pakistan war will ever last more than a few days, because neither side wants the destruction a long one brings. The region, he says, will get "bouts of clashes every few years", and he called it izzat maxing.

    X.T.M30 Sep16 comments
From the archive
4,162 posts. 93,592 comments. 11.4 million words, about 126 books of argument.

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

India 1,807 · Pakistan 946 · United States 549 · United Kingdom 231 · Middle East and the Gulf 191 · Bangladesh 159 · Iran 141 · China 124

Politics and public life1,117 postsHistory783 postsReligion and philosophy507 postsSociety, caste and identity1,003 postsLanguage, literature and culture554 postsScience, genetics and technology377 postsEconomy and development233 postsMigration and diaspora320 postsGeopolitics, 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.
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