BrownCast – Page 6 – Brown Pundits

Browncast: Is Imran Khan on the Way Out?

Omar Ali · March 26, 2022 · Comments Off

Another Browncast 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 Omar talks with Ambassador Kamran Shafi and Dr Mohammed Taqi, two very well known and astute observers of the Pakistani political scene. We talk about the current political crisis and why and how the military may have abandoned Imran Khan, exposing him to a no-confidence motion in the National assembly.

(spotify link did not work in Pakistan)

Episode 7: South of India from 200 BC to 500 AD

Maneesh Taneja · March 25, 2022 · 4 comments

The History podcast crosses the Vindhyas and heads towards the Deccan. Maneesh is in conversation with Jay and Shrikanth on all things South of India between the period 200 BC to 500 AD.

Among other things, the speakers talk at length about the Sangam literature.

Mani Ratnam’s Iruvar makes an appearance too.

@jayvtweets @shrikanth_krish @maneesht

Sources and References:

1. A History of South India by K. A. Nilakanta Sastri
2. The age of imperial unity (The history and culture of the Indian people Vol 2)
3. Comprehensive History of India Vol.2, The Mauryas and the Satavahanas, Edited by K. A. Nilakanta Sastra
4. The First Spring: The Golden Age of India (Part -1) by Abraham Eraly
5. A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century by Upinder Singh
6. Coromandel: A Personal History of South India by Charles Allen
7. Ashoka in Ancient India by Nayanjot Lahiri
8. The Sangam Age by V.R. Ramachandra Dikshitar (ARTICLE)
9. The Beginnings of Civilization in South India by Clarence Maloney (ARTICLE)
10. Archaeology of the Sangam Age by K. V. Raman (ARTICLE)
11. Urbanization in South India: The Role of Ideology and Polity by R. Champakalakshmi (ARTICLE)
12. The Vedic-Puranic-Sastric element in Tamil Sangam Society and culture (A Study of Purananuru-First Section) by M. G. S. Narayanan (ARTICLE)13. Chera, Chola, Pandya: Using Archaeological Evidence to Identify the Tamil Kingdoms of Early Historic South India by Shinu A. Abraham (ARTICLE)14. Kalinga and Andhra: the process of secondary state formation in early India by Sudharshan Seneviratne (ARTICLE)

15. The Wonder that was India – AL Basham

16. Tamil – A Biography : David Shulman

17. Early Tamil Epigraphy : Iravatham Mahadevan

18. Hala’s Sattasai : https://www.amazon.com/Halas-Sattasai-Gatha-Saptasati-Prakrit/dp/8120837010

19. Sangam translations in English : https://sangamtranslationsbyvaidehi.com/

Episode 6: North India from 200 BC to 200 AD

Maneesh Taneja · March 11, 2022 · 11 comments

The History of the Indian sub-continent continues. Shrikanth and Maneesh are joined by Jay Vardhan Singh to talk about all things North of the Vindhyas in the period 200 BC to 200 AD. Tales of Bactrians in modern day central India, descendants of King Ashoka and of a king whose name ended up on an unfortunate Aircraft. Kalyan, a suburb of Mumbai, makes an appearance too.

@shrikanth_krish @jayvtweets @maneesht

References and Source Material:

GENERAL BOOKS
1. Between the Empires: Society in India 300 BCE to 400 CE by Patrick Olivelle (Editor)
2. The age of imperial unity (The history and culture of the Indian people Vol 2)
3. Comprehensive History of India Vol.2, The Mauryas and the Satavahanas, Edited by K. A. Nilakanta Sastra
4. Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty by Hem Chandra Raychaudhuri

LATER MAURYANS
1. Aśoka and the decline of the Mauryas by Romila Thapar

INDO-GREEKS
1. The Indo-Greeks by A. K. Narain
2. The Greek Experience of India: From Alexander to the Indo-Greeks by Richard Stoneman
3. The Greeks in India by George Woodcock
4. The Yavana Invader of the Gangetic Basin by Kailash Chandra Ojha (ARTICLE)

SHAKAS, PARTHIANS AND KUSHANAS
1. History of Civilization of Central Asia, Vol – II
2. The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia by René Grousset, Naomi Walford
3. The Dynastic Arts of the Kushans by John M. Rosenfield
4. ReOrienting the Sasanians: East Iran in Late Antiquity by Khodadad Rezakhani
5. The Age of the Parthians Edited By The Idea of Iran Volume II Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis and Sarah Stewart
6. The Khyber Pass: A History of Empire and Invasion by Paddy Docherty
7. Empires of Ancient Eurasia: The First Silk Roads Era, 100 BCE – 250 CE by Craig Benjamin
8. Mathurā: The Cultural Heritage
9. India under the Kushanas by B.N. Puri
10. From the Kushans to the Western Turks by Khodadad Rezakhani (ARTICLE)

SATAVAHANAS AND WESTERN KSHATRAPS
1. Formative Phase of the Western Deccan Satavahanas and Kshaharatas by Ajay Mitra Shastri (ARTICLE)
2. Satavahana Chronology: A Re-examination by M. K. Dhavalikar (ARTICLE)

KHARAVELA
1. Epigraphica Indica Vol. XX
2. The Mahameghavahana dynasty by Shri Amar Chand (ARTICLE)
3. Bahasatimita of the Hathigumpha inscription by N.K Sahu (ARTICLE)

The article of Vidya Dahejia
http://vidyadehejia.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Dehejia-Collective-Popular-Patronage.pdf

Reference of Indian Steel exported to Rome
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.234409/page/n155/mode/2up?view=theater

“Age of Imperial Unity” – Volume 2 in the series on “History and Culture of the Indian People”. Jai has covered it in his list

Age of the Kushanas – A Numismatic study (Bhaskar Chatopadhyay)

A blogpost on Spitzer manuscript that we discussed in the call –

https://manasataramgini.wordpress.com/2013/05/01/a-brief-note-on-the-spitzer-manuscript-and-related-issues/

Geography – by Strabo

Book of Later Han

Yuga Purana – John E Mitchiner

Malavikagnimitram – Kalidasa

Manusmriti with commentary of Medathiti – Ganganatha Jha

The Questions of King Milinda

Inscriptions –

Junagadh inscription of Rudradaman : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junagadh_rock_inscription_of_Rudradaman

Hathigumpha inscription of Kharavela : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hathigumpha_inscription

Yavanarajya inscription of Mathura : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yavanarajya_inscription

Ayodhya inscription of Dhana: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayodhya_Inscription_of_Dhana

Kanishka’s Rabatak inscription : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabatak_inscription

Heliodorus inscription on Garuda Pillar : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliodorus_pillar

https://www.youtube.com/JayVardhanSingh

Russian Invasion of Ukraine, part 1

Omar Ali · March 7, 2022 · 3 comments

In this episode Amey, Conrad and I (Omar Ali) talk to Karol Karpinski about the crisis, and particularly about the Eastern European perspective on it. This is sort of the counterpoint to our earlier recording with Major Amin (where he presented the hard Russian Nationalist viewpoint on the crisis). As usual, add your comments.. We hope to record another episode dedicated specifically to the question of sanctions; what is being done, how effective are they, and so on.

History of India Series: Episode 5 – The Magadh Era: From Bimbisara to Ashoka

GauravL · February 28, 2022 · 7 comments

CC BY-SA 2.5 Bpilgrim (talk · contribs) - Own work — CC BY-SA 2.5 Bpilgrim (talk · contribs) – Own work

The History podcast passes through the Magadh era. Mukunda Raghavan and Gaurav Lele talk to us about the sub-continent at the end of the Vedic age and take us all the way to the ruler whose symbols are part of the Modern Indian Republics mythology. Alexander and Vishnugupta Chankaya make an appearance and we speculate on the first recorded caesarean birth.

@raghman36 @gaurav_lele @maneesht

Sources and References: Books and Blogs  Upinder Singh – Ancient India.  Upinder Singh – Political violence in Ancient India.  Upinder Singh – Culture of Contradictions.  Romila Thapar – Ancient History  RS Sharma- India’s Ancient Past  Javarava’s Raves: (Blogposts publications etc)  Greater Magadha – Johannes Brockhorst  Live History India (Paid + unpaid)  Early Hinduism — the epic stratification | by Gaurav Lele | Medium  Free Web Sites – Buddhism – LibGuides at Michigan State University Libraries (msu.edu)  Excerpts from : King, Governance, and Law in Ancient India: Kautilya & Arthasastra PODCASTS:  The History of India Podcast – Kit Patrick  Echoes of India Podcast – Aniruddha KanasettiYou can listen on <a href="https://brownpundits.libsyn.com/">Libsyn</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/brown-pundits/id1439007022?ls=1">Apple</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/5DrpAOxTWTdyxlrbuBr6z5">Spotify</a>, and <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/razib-khan/brown-pundits-podcast?refid=stpr">Stitcher</a> (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! Links to the previous podcasts: <a href="https://www.brownpundits.com/2021/12/12/browncast-introducing-history-of-india-series/">Episode 1</a>; <a href="https://www.brownpundits.com/2022/01/05/history-series-podcast-episode-2-indian-prehistory-through-genetics/">Episode 2</a>; <a href="https://www.brownpundits.com/2022/01/08/history-series-podcast-episode-3-all-about-ivc/">Episode 3</a> <a href="https://www.brownpundits.com/2022/01/31/history-of-india-series-episode-4-the-vedic-age/">Episode 4;</a>

Sources and References:
Books and Blogs
 Upinder Singh – Ancient India.
 Upinder Singh – Political violence in Ancient India.
 Upinder Singh – Culture of Contradictions.
 Romila Thapar – Ancient History
 RS Sharma- India’s Ancient Past
 Javarava’s Raves: (Blogposts publications etc)
 Greater Magadha – Johannes Brockhorst
 Live History India (Paid + unpaid)
 Early Hinduism — the epic stratification | by Gaurav Lele | Medium
 Free Web Sites – Buddhism – LibGuides at Michigan State University Libraries (msu.edu)
 Excerpts from : King, Governance, and Law in Ancient India: Kautilya & Arthasastra
PODCASTS:
 The History of India Podcast – Kit Patrick
 Echoes of India Podcast – Aniruddha Kanasetti

Browncast: Major Amin on the Ukraine Crisis

Omar Ali · February 25, 2022 · 6 comments

Major Amin – Brown Pundits

In this episode we talk to our regular guest, Major Amin. Major Amin is a military historian with long experience of working in Afghanistan and Russia. As a fan of military history he is also a huge fan of the Russian Army, the entity that executed such historic operations as Uranus and Bagration. This bias shows in the podcast today and many listeners will find things they vigorously disagree with, but his views probably reflect a lot of Putin’s (or Russian nationalist’s) own thinking in this affair. In any case, as always he is brutally frank and frequently provocative. Enjoy, and add your comments..

Reason for Russia-Ukraine War: Why did Russia attack Ukraine? Timeline of events that led to Russia Ukraine Invasion

Auto generated Transcript: (unedited, full of errors, but those in a hurry may get the drift) Continue reading Browncast: Major Amin on the Ukraine Crisis

Browncast: Salman Rashid, Travel and History Writer

Omar Ali · February 25, 2022 · Comments Off

In this episode Omar and Maneesh Taneja chat with Pakistani travel writer and history buff Salman Rashid. Salman has a very popular youtube channel and tweets as odysseuslahori . We chat about partition, pakistan, history and whatever else comes up.

Browncast: Indic explorer on Hinduism, Dharma, etc

GauravL · February 24, 2022 · Comments Off

In conversation with Indic explorer, Mukunda and Omar discuss a lot of things related to all things “Indic” . Items include how to define Hinduism, why it does not get the respect it deserves and why its most ardent fans may need to “up their game”.. .

Indic (who prefers to remain anonymous for now) can be found on Twitter at @theindicexplor1

Browncast : Karnataka hijab issue

GauravL · February 14, 2022 · 35 comments

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!

Karnataka hijab issue

This discussion has a lot of digressions and tangential issues but it is a discussion worth having. Leaving aside the Hijab controversy, how India is represented (or more misrepresented) in global media (arguably of both sides) is something Indians have to confront. Maybe that’s a separate podcast why India and Hindutva which is certainly moderate when compared to polities of the subcontinent get such a bad rep. I would lay the blame more on the Indian origin interlocuters than any foreign design (though that bias is undeniable).

I would even go on to add that the Western world, in general, hasn’t treated most non-Western countries as sovereign nation-states. I guess if sovereignty is treated as sacrosanct by people of Indian origin, inspite of personal biases some semblance of balance would be maintained in the “India” discourse

Browncast: Core Agenda and India as a Hindu State-In conversation with Arihant Pawariya.

Maneesh Taneja · February 9, 2022 · 6 comments

I (Maneesh Taneja) am in conversation with Arihant Pawariya. Arihant is a senior editor with the Swarajya magazine and an influential voice in the right-wing ecosystem in India. In a freewheeling conversation, Arihant talks about the ‘Core’ agenda and how he sees the Indian state behaving were India to turn into a Hindu state.

My take away, the as positions on both sides of the ideological divide harden, the window of bringing in a Uniform Civil Code in India will close in a decade.

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!

Look forward to your thoughts and feedback.

https://five.libsyn.com/episodes/view/22075706

@maneesht and @haryannvi on Twitter.

Authors and books mentioned in the episode:

M. N. Srinivas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._N._Srinivas

Caste in Modern India: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2941637

Social Change in Modern India: https://www.jstor.org/stable/24431229

Thomas Sowell: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Sowell

The Vision of Anointed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vision_of_the_Anointed

Nassim Nicholas Taleb: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nassim_Nicholas_Taleb

Incerto: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nassim_Nicholas_Taleb#Incerto

Ayan Rand: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand

Atlas Shrugged: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_Shrugged

Who is John Galt: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Galt