Examining the Philosophy of the Thirukkural - Part 2

“ஒத்தற்கு எனிதாய் உணர்தற்கு அரிதாகி வேதப் பொருளாய் மிகவிளங்கித் - தித்திப்போர் உள்ளுதொறு உள்ளுதொறு உள்ளம் உருக்குமே வள்ளுவர் வாய்மொழி

Punarnava: Why Hindu Civilisation Needs a Second Awakening

Nalanda Had No WhatsApp and Still Beat Oxford by 1,000 Years. What Happened? "Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it." — Bal Gangadhar Tilak But swaraj — self-rule — was never only political. The word means sva (self) + raj (governance). It always included the governance of the

The Law That Never Was Yours

A man in rural Maharashtra tries to register a land dispute. The process requires affidavits in English, even though he himself speaks Marathi. The form references sections of an Act passed in 1908. The Act was never designed to give him justice but to file him — to classify his grievance.

Letter From A Former Khalistani

As a Sikh kid growing up in California, it’s safe to say that a large part of my time has been spent playing a juggling act between my Indian and American sides. I assimilated just enough to fit in with my American friends, while still holding on to my

The Suit and the Salt March

There are two Indians whose statues stand in foreign capitals. Whose biographies fill Western shelves. These two men receive the world's admiration. One despised his own villages, wore Savile Row, and believed civilization flowed in one direction; from London to India. The other preached that the oppressed should

How the Left Made Islam Criticism-Proof

There is a question that sits quietly at the edge of Indian “intellectual” discourse, rarely asked aloud in polite academic circles but increasingly impossible to ignore: how does a political tradition that champions atheism, gender equality, LGBTQIA+ rights, and the dismantling of religious authority find itself in sustained, structural alliance

Waqf: The Real Story

The Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2024 led to several controversies, protests and violent eruptions. The leaders of All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) claimed, “The Muslim community views this Waqf Amendment Bill as a direct attack on the community. It is evident that the BJP’s politics thrive on communal

Critically Examining the Philosophy of the Thirukkural

The aim of the sinless One consists in acting without causing sorrow to others, although he could attain great power by ignoring their feelings. The aim of the sinless One lies in not doing evil unto those who have done evil unto him. If a man causes suffering even to

Nationalist Is Another Word For Shut Up

Pakistan was not the result of a territorial dispute. Its founders didn't argue about where to draw a line on a map. They argued about whether two communities could share a future, concluded they could not, and built a country on that conclusion. Pakistan was designed, from its

Composite Culture is Surrender

"All religions are essentially the same." You've heard it. Maybe you've even said it. Sounds enlightened but it's not. It's merely intellectual surrender dressed up as wisdom. Composite culture means that you don't defend anything because defending requires

Delete the Gods, Delete the System

It happened in Greece. It happened in Rome. Now it's happening in India. Two generations. That's all it takes. Delete the gods, delete the operating system. Hindu gods ran everything. Not in some vague spiritual sense. They were the actual infrastructure. You couldn't start

The Croissant Delusion. A Letter From Pondicherry

I sat in a cafe on Rue Suffren, paying ₹450 for a cappuccino that tasted like disappointment with foam. The menu was in French, and around me, Indian tourists were busy photographing yellow buildings like they had discovered Versailles. This was during a recent forced transit through Pondicherry or as

Dharma

Thence is destroyed the veil of the light

ततः क्षीयते प्रकाशावरणम् Thence is destroyed the veil of the light Pranayama is not merely a physical act. When done correctly, the ultimate goal is to remove the obstacles that hinder an aspirant's pursuit of true knowledge. According to the Yogasutras, the light

Editorial

Being the Majority Means Nothing

In 1857, roughly 45,000 British personnel controlled 300 million Indians. That's 0.015% of the population holding absolute dominion over the rest through systematic oppression that killed more than 100 million people. The majority died while the minority profited. We've been taught to think about

Thought

Examining Indian Muslims’ Solidarity from Palestine to Sudan

There's an old Urdu saying: "Apni gali mein toh kutte bhi sher hote hain" (In one's own street, even dogs become lions). This proverb captures something important about human nature—courage and conviction are easiest when they're directed outward, away from uncomfortable

Editorial

What Is Your Civilizational Duty?

Three generations. That's the architecture of cultural warfare. The first generation fights. They die holding the line, bodies stacked against the doors of temples, manuscripts clutched in burning hands. The second generation preserves. They hide, they record, and whisper stories to their children in the dark in a

Editorial

Civilized to Death

You think you're being noble when you choose restraint. When someone mocks your gods, you bite your tongue and respond with measured dialogue, careful not to offend, eager to prove you're civilized. You think this makes you better than others. It doesn't. It makes

Thought

Rewiring Hindu Jurisprudence

Falling at the behest of intentional prevarication, it necessitates us to rethink Hindutva’s strategic and moral posture. Have you ever wondered - why do most ‘liberal’ leaning people around the globe openly denounce religious fanaticism and ethno-religious groups, yet always protect the interests of Abrahamics? The answer is simple

Editorial

Can India Be Modern Without Becoming Western?

There are two schools of thoughts prevalent in India today. That borrowing from other cultures is either treason or enlightenment. Either modern Indian society must hermetically seal itself against Western influence or prostrate itself before modernity's altar. But can't we take something foreign and make it

Thought

Celebrations or Cultural degeneracy. Disturbing shift in the way we celebrate.

Editor's Note: The following piece is presented in the author's own words to honor a young Indian's sincere expression of cultural concerns. These views represent the author's personal perspective. We value providing space for heartfelt community voices on matters of spiritual and

Editorial

The Trapdoor Called Equality

There is a quiet rot eating at the edges of everything Hindu in India. Temples are stripped bare by state apparatchiks while mosques swell tax-free. Kashmiri Pandits rot in refugee camps while their exodus is called "communal tension" instead of ethnic cleansing. But Hindu society still nods

Thought

Ideological Silences and Selective Outrage: A Delhi University Perspective

There was a time, admittedly naïve, when I believed the university classroom to be a sanctified space: a repository of intellectual equanimity, a site where the “guru” remained an embodiment of integrity and pedagogical fairness. Coming from a modest background, I had always imagined Delhi University to be the luminous

Editorial

Saint Gandhi And The Empire's Last Laugh

The sneakiest trick the British ever pulled was convincing Indians that their weakness was virtue and that their inability to fight back was spiritual sophistication. Nowadays it's hotly debated whether Gandhi gave India independence or not but what we can be sure of is that he gave the

Theology

Decolonizing the Swastika: Western Academia’s Role in a Global Misrepresentation

Whenever we think of Nazi Germany, there are two things that immediately spring to mind - a failed painter from Austria and another  symbol that defined the Third Reich - a hooked cross, better known as the Hakenkreuz. But the modern world has a different name for this symbol - an odd name