Indo-Persian culture
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Modi’s Sufi Gambit: Is Hindu India the True Heir to Urdu Culture?
Argues that Modi’s patronage of the Jahan-e-Khusrau festival may position Hindu-defined India as Urdu culture’s heir, modernising it as the Pahlavis did Persian. The author sees this as a strategic…
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The Jahanara debate & how Desis must dress
The author compares Pakistani, Iranian and Hindi pronunciations of the name Jahanara, argues Urdu grew from a Hindustani standard once called Hindi, notes how much of India’s medieval history is…
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As India Saffronises, 9 Questions on her Za’faran sister (IranZamin) with Professor Foltz-
Starting from the etymology of saffron, the author laments the loss of India’s Islamicate and Persianate heritage as the country saffronises, with Urdu left to the Hindu majority’s mercy. He…
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How Islamicate culture will die?
Zach argues that Islamicate culture is squeezed in India for being Islamic and in Pakistan for not being Islamic enough, claiming that Islam is suffocating the Islamicate cultural complex there.…
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Has Manish Malhotra jumped the shark?
Questions designer Manish Malhotra’s ‘Indo-Persian’ collection Zween, saying it shows Bollywood with floral motifs rather than Iran, and suggests he should have called it back to Pakistan, since Mughlai high…
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Persian Vs. Punjabi Vs. Urdu
Shares clips in which a speaker follows Persian words better in Urdu than in Punjabi mode, taking them as a sign of the divide between Punjabi popular culture and Urdu…
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10 Questions on South Asia
A list of ten light questions for readers on South Asia, from whether East Pakistan would have survived without India in 1971 to the Indian Premier League, Bollywood and who…
