Rig Veda
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The evolving understanding of varNa in Indian history
Nachiketa, writing as a self-described informed layperson, traces how varna evolved from the Rigvedic priest and warrior elites through the Vaishya and Shudra categories to the modern understanding shaped under…
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Born in Blood: a relook at the final act of Parv
A second look at the final act of S. L. Bhyrappa’s novel Parva, the retelling of the Mahabharata. The author reads its closing scenes as a study of war’s futility,…
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Indra – the dragon slayer
The author describes a Python script built to search the Vedic corpus for verses on Vritra, then shares a Claude-generated summary of the Rigvedic myth. It presents Indra as slayer…
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A civilization born in blood : a relook at the final act of Parva
Revisiting S. L. Bhyrappa’s novel Parva, Nachiketa reads its final act as a study of the futility of war, from Bhima finding the Hidimba forest burned to the Yadava fratricide,…
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History of India Series: Episode 4 – The Vedic Age
Maneesh Taneja talks with Shrikanth Krishnamacharya and Gaurav Lele about the Vedic age in the History of India series: its origins, literature and culture, recitation techniques, the layers of Vedic…
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On the historicity of the Vedas
The author says he now accepts that people resembling ‘white’ Europeans expanded into the subcontinent 3,000 to 4,000 years ago, reading Vedic descriptions of dark natives as literal rather than…
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Hindu Integration: Brahmanas and Gramadevatas
The author argues the Rigvedic ‘one truth, many names’ pluralism is overstated, reads the Vasishtha hymns as integrating deities with different functions, and traces Brahmin integration of village deities such…
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Are Hindu Atheists more Plural ?
Nachiketa argues that Hindu atheists, who mostly keep a Hindu identity and focus on ritual and tradition rather than abstract disbelief, differ from ex-Muslim and ex-Christian atheists, and traces Hindu…
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Book Review : Exotic Aliens, The Lion and The Cheetah in India
Nachiketa summarises Romila Thapar’s argument that lions and cheetahs were exotic to India and entered its imagery late, noting that Indus seals show tigers but no lions, and Yusuf Ansari’s…
