Ramayana
-
Ranbir as Lord Ram: The Indus Paradox
The man cast as Maryada Purushottam, the ideal Hindu man, the conscience-keeper of a civilisation, descends from Prithviraj Kapoor of Peshawar; a Hindu Pathan (his kinsman Anil Kapoor states on…
-
Bharat Needs No Validation
X.T.M takes a commenter’s remark that the Ramayana did not resonate as a cue to argue that Bharat is civilisational, that Pakistan is an ‘Urdufied Punjab’ still colonised in mind,…
-
Ramayan in Karachi ?
Nachiketa shares news that a Pakistani theatre group has staged Ram and Sita, under the line ‘It’s our Ramayana too’, and asks readers for their views.
-
Hans Zimmer and the Polite Dismissal of the Ramayana
X.T.M argues that Hans Zimmer’s polite refusal to hear the Ramayana explained was a dismissal, not reverence, and that Indian awe at it shows civilisational confusion; he adds a reflection…
-
Happy Rama Navami!
Razib Khan marks Rama Navami with a joke that he has read only two-thirds of an English Mahabharata and knows nothing of Rama beyond his presumed Y haplogroup.
-
Belief and Reclamation
The Emissary frames the 5 August 2020 Ayodhya temple foundation as a civilisation’s long-awaited reclamation, retelling Ram’s journey in the Ramayana and arguing that its classification as itihasa, history rather…
-
Are the (TV) Mahabharata and Ramayan “Right Wing”?
Asks whether the 1980s Doordarshan Ramayan and Mahabharata serials paved the way for Hindu nationalism, as many Left-liberal Indians argue. The author is fascinated that this view is respectable, and…
-
humblebragging History-
Mocks a tweet crediting the Greeks with the Ramayana, saying it reflects a subtle bias that inflates Greco-Roman achievement at other civilisations’ expense and justifies colonialism.
-
A “carvaka” perspective historicity of myth and religion
Razib Khan argues from a sceptical standpoint that Ram and Krishna, if they existed, belong to prehistory like Abraham or Zoroaster, whereas the Buddha and Mahavira are liminal figures, and…
