Brahma — The Sacred

Ahoi Aṣtamī – How Hindu Dharma Teaches Deep Ecology through Festivals

dharma

A festival most Hindus have forgotten exists - Ahoi Aṣṭamī as a window into how Hindu civilization transmits ecological and relational wisdom through the devotional practice of mothers, one week before Diwali.

Art and Meaning Making

tradition

Hindu aesthetics begins where Western aesthetics ends - the Indian tradition was interested in the effect of art on the soul, beyond the representation of reality, and this difference reveals two fundamentally incompatible metaphysical starting points.

Artificial Intelligence is Here - Part 1, from Before to Now

veda, tradition

AI arrives as a non-neutral civilizational event - a comparison of simulation theory, Vedānta, and modern physics asks whether the intelligence emerging from our machines is something the Dhārmika tradition already has a vocabulary for.

Bhāratīya Wanderlust - A Defence of the Out-of-India Model (OIT), Part 2

veda

Part 2 - examining the textual evidence for the Out-of-India model - what the Ṛgveda and comparative philology actually show when read without the Invasion Theory's assumptions baked in from the start.

Bodha, the Pyramid of Priorities and the Nature of Hindu Organizations

dharma, sanatana

Why Hindu organizational fragmentation is a feature, not a failure - Bodha's argument that Sanatana Dharma requires a diversity of independent organizations rather than monolithic unity, and what this means for civilizational strategy.

Caturasūtra - Four Aphorisms

tradition

Four foundational aphorisms for understanding Indian civilizational consciousness, drawn from across the tradition - compact enough to internalize, substantial enough to orient an entire intellectual project.

Chaṭh - a Living Tradition and Cultural Homecoming

tradition

Chaṭh as lived civilizational memory - a personal account of returning to Bihar for the festival, and what the survival of this demanding, water-centered rite reveals about the deep roots of Hindu devotional practice in the body and the land.

Culture and Warfare - Finding Balance Through Dharma

dharma

Drawing on H. G. Wells, the Mahābhārata, and dhārmika philosophy to argue that the collapse of the distinction between culture and barbarism is a civilizational crisis - and that dharma is the only framework adequate to it.

Dāśarājña Recontextualized - Part 2

veda

Part 2 - a close reading of the textual data in Ṛgveda Maṇḍala 7, parsing the battle's participants, geography, and historical context against established chronologies of Indian lineages.

History is Ontic but Itihāsa is Ontologic – a Fractal Maṇḍala Essay

tradition

The distinction between history (ontic, event-centered) and itihāsa (ontologic, truth-centered) is not a quaint traditional category but a methodological difference with profound consequences for how India should understand and narrate its own past.

Indic Environmentalism - A Balance between Tradition and Innovation

dharma, tradition, sanatana

Sanātana Dharma's environmental ethic is central to it - an argument that the dhārmika relationship with nature provides a more coherent ecological framework than either Western environmentalism or techno-optimism.

Kṣetra, Śāstra, Utsava

shastra, sacred, temple, tradition

On the axis connecting festival (utsava), sacred geography (kṣetra), and scripture (śāstra) - how Hindu festivals are to time what temples are to space - gradients of divine access that structure both the year and the land.

My Journey with Anveshi

temple, tradition

The origin story of Anveshi, Bodha's structured temple-visit practice - how collective temple-going became a form of civilizational reconnection - and what it reveals about how living tradition actually perpetuates itself.

Śailaputrī | Navadurgā - Part 1

tradition

Opening the Navadurgā series - an introduction to the Navarātrī tradition followed by the theology and iconography of Śailaputrī Devī - daughter of the mountain, first of the nine forms, embodiment of primal śakti.

Śrī Rāma Comes Back to Ayodhyā

sacred

The Ram Janmabhūmi movement as civilizational memory rather than political campaign - how the 500-year struggle for Ayodhyā maps onto the deeper Hindu understanding of sacred geography and the permanence of divine presence in place.

Svayambodha and Śatrubodha - Two Wheels of Civilization

dharma

Hindu civilizational discourse has entered its sophisticated phase - an argument that Svayambodha (self-knowledge) and Shatrubodha (knowledge of the adversary) now constitute a canonical framework.

The Dhārmika Gene

dharma

A fundamental re-articulation of Dharma as a civilizational inheritance - the genetic-level encoding that tells Bhāratīya culture how to understand itself, its cosmos, and its obligations across generations.

The Difference Between Us - on One-life vs. Multiple-life Metaphysics

ritual

What actually separates the Hindu and Abrahamic worldviews at the deepest level is not ritual, theistic dimensions, or scripture but the one-life versus multiple-life metaphysical foundation - and the implications of that single difference ramify through everything.

The Problem of Culture Transmission

tradition

Tradition is a living chain of transmission - an examination of the specific mechanisms by which Hindu civilization has carried its deepest knowledge forward, and where those mechanisms are breaking today.

Towards Dharma-centric Polity - Lokmanya Tilak and the Universalization of Gaṇeśa Utsava

dharma, tradition

As dharma recedes from both personal life and public governance, what would a genuinely dharma-centric political order look like - and is it achievable within or only beyond the current Indian constitutional framework?

64 Arts in Ancient India

tradition

Survey of the classical list of sixty-four arts and what it reveals about education and cultured accomplishment.

A Primer of Indian Logic

tradition

Introductory exposition of Indian logical method, categories, inference, and debate using the Tarkasangraha tradition.

Absence Of Sword From Rig Veda

veda, vedic

Philological and archaeological analysis of the missing sword terminology in the Rig Veda, discussing implications for Indo-Aryan chronology.

Advanced Textbook of Hindu Religion and Ethics

religious-instruction

More advanced textbook on Hindu ethics, doctrine, discipline, and moral reasoning.

Agni Purana

ritual, sacred

Edition or translation of the Agni Purana, an encyclopedic Purana covering cosmology, ritual, iconography, kingship, and sacred practice.

Agnihotra Kranti

ritual, agnihotra, vedic

Text advocating or explaining the revival of Agnihotra and related Vedic fire ritual practice.

Aitareya Upanishad

upanishad

English edition or translation of the Aitareya Upanishad, highlighting creation, consciousness, and the identity of the self with ultimate reality.

An Elementary Treatise on Mimamsa

ritual, vedic, mimamsa

Accessible introduction to Mimamsa principles, Vedic injunctions, and hermeneutical reasoning.

Antecedents Of Rig Vedic Religion

ritual, vedic

Traces Central Asian and Hindukush cultural influences on early Vedic religious practices, mapping ritual and mythological developments.

Arthashastra

shastra

Classical treatise on statecraft, administration, diplomacy, economy, espionage, and royal governance.

Aryan Story vs True Aryan History

vedic

Contrasts mainstream Aryan migration narratives with textual and archaeological evidence supporting indigenous Vedic cultural development in India.

Aryans And The Indus Civilization

vedic

Examines archaeological and textual evidence for cultural continuity between Indus Valley settlements and early Vedic societies.

Aryas, Dasas and Dasyus

veda, vedic

Analyzes Rigvedic terminology for Aryas, Dasas, and Dasyus, reinterpreting socio-cultural conflicts as intra-tribal rather than ethnic invasions.

Astronomical Chronology Of Vedic Literature

vedic

Uses archaeoastronomy to date Vedic texts based on celestial references, proposing earlier chronologies for Rigvedic and post-Vedic compositions.

Asura And Its Derivatives In Rigveda

veda, vedic

Philological study of 'Asura' and related terms in the Rig Veda, tracing semantic shifts from divine epithets to later mythological antagonists.

Autochthonous Aryans

vedic

Academic critique of indigenous Aryan theories, contrasting textual and linguistic evidence with mainstream Indo-European migration models.

Brahma Purana

ritual, sacred

Edition or translation of the Brahma Purana, creation narratives, sacred geography, pilgrimage, ritual life, and dynastic lore.

Brahmanda Purana

brahman

Edition or translation of the Brahmanda Purana, cosmology, cycles of time, genealogies, and later devotional theology.

Brhadaranyak Upanishad

brahman, upanishad

English edition or translation of the Brhadaranyak Upanishad, highlighting selfhood, negation, sacrifice, and the search for brahman.

Chandogya Upanishad

ritual, upanishad, sacred

English edition or translation of the Chandogya Upanishad, highlighting meditation, sacred speech, ritual symbolism, and the teaching of tat tvam asi.

Chronology Of Kings Puranic Kings and Rigvedic Rshis

vedic

Cross-references Puranic king lists and Rigvedic rishi genealogies with archaeological phases of the Sindhu-Sarasvati civilization.

Civil Disobedience in Indian Tradition

tradition

Study of resistance, legitimacy, and non-cooperation within Indian political and ethical traditions.

Decipherment Of Indus Valley Vedic Seals

vedic

Proposes Vedic linguistic correlations for Indus Valley seal inscriptions, integrating symbolic analysis with early Sanskrit vocabulary.

Demilitarizing The Rigveda

veda, vedic

Re-evaluates Vedic texts to contextualize references to horses, chariots, and warfare, challenging militarized interpretations of early Aryan culture.

Dravidian and Pan-Indian Nature of Hinduism

ritual, tradition

Explores the Dravidian roots and pan-Indian cultural synthesis that shaped early Hindu traditions, rituals, and philosophical frameworks.

Dravidian Connections to Rig Veda and Harappa

veda, vedic

Examines linguistic and cultural links between Dravidian languages, the Rig Veda, and the Indus Valley Civilization, challenging conventional migration narratives.

Elementary Textbook of Hindu Religion and Ethics

religious-instruction

Introductory textbook on Hindu beliefs, duties, virtues, and everyday ethical formation.

Essays on Tradition, Recovery and Freedom

tradition

Essays on cultural continuity, intellectual decolonization, and the recovery of civilizational freedom.

Essential Coomaraswamy

tradition

General overview of Hindu tradition, covering its beliefs, practices, social vision, and intellectual foundations.

Excavating Vedic Harappans

vedic

Synthesizes archaeological findings demonstrating cultural continuity between Indus Valley settlements and early Vedic material culture.

Females In Rig Veda

veda, vedic

Philological study of female figures, goddesses, and social roles in the Rig Veda, analyzing gender representation in early Vedic society.

From Sarasvati To Ganga

vedic

Traces the cultural and geographical shift from Sarasvati-centered Vedic civilization to Ganga-dominated historical India, analyzing hydrological changes.

Future of Mankind

ritual

Civilizational reflection arguing for a spiritually grounded future rooted in perennial wisdom.

Gaudapada Karika

veda, upanishad

Classical Advaita work on non-duality, consciousness, and the Mandukya Upanishad.

Geography of the Puranas

ritual, sacred

Edition or translation of the Geography of the Puranas, a Purana text combining mythology, cosmology, ritual observance, and sacred geography.

Gulmavrikshayurveda

veda, tradition

Traditional treatise on plants, horticulture, and knowledge systems related to trees and cultivation.

Harivansha Purana

tradition

Edition or translation of the Harivansha Purana, Krishna lineage narratives and cosmological material closely tied to the Mahabharata tradition.

Hindu Dharma

dharma

General account of Hindu dharma, its philosophical foundations, social vision, and practical disciplines.

Hindu Dharma Radhakrishnan

dharma, tradition

Essay by S. Radhakrishnan presenting Hindu dharma as a living, adaptive, and philosophically grounded religious tradition.

Hindu Temples Vol 1

temple

Documentation and interpretation of the destruction, transformation, and historical memory of Hindu temples.

Hindu Temples Vol 2

temple

Continuation of the documentary record on Hindu temples, iconoclasm, and historical memory.

Hinduism Ancient and Modern

tradition

Comparative overview of continuities and changes in Hindu tradition across historical periods.

Hindustani Music

tradition

Overview of Hindustani music theory, form, pedagogy, and performance practice.

History of Dharmashastras Vol 1

dharma, ritual, shastra, tradition, dharmashastra

Reference study of dharmashastra literature, sources of dharma, and the historical formation of legal-ritual norms.

History of Dharmashastras Vol 2 Part 1

dharma, ritual, shastra, dharmashastra

Reference study of dharmashastra literature with focus on ritual, samskara, and normative practice.

History of Dharmashastras Vol 2 Part 2

dharma, ritual, shastra, dharmashastra

Reference study of dharmashastra literature continuing discussion of rites, duties, and normative institutions.

History of Dharmashastras Vol 3

dharma, shastra, dharmashastra

Reference study of dharmashastra themes including social duties, legal procedure, and normative ordering.

History of Dharmashastras Vol 4

dharma, shastra, dharmashastra

Reference study of dharmashastra themes with detailed treatment of law, custom, and social institutions.

History of Dharmashastras Vol 5 Part 1

dharma, shastra, dharmashastra

Reference study of later dharmashastra topics, jurisprudence, and social-religious regulation.

History of Dharmashastras Vol 5 Part 2

dharma, ritual, shastra, dharmashastra

Reference study completing the dharmashastra series with later legal and ritual materials.

Identity of the Enemies of Sudas

vedic

Uncover the historical and linguistic analysis of the tribal confederacies that opposed King Sudas in the Rigvedic Battle of Ten Kings.

Ikshvakus in the Rig Veda

veda, vedic

An in-depth study of the Ikshvaku dynasty's presence and references within the Rig Vedic hymns, tracing early Vedic royal lineages and cultural continuity.

Images Of Solar Bulls

veda, vedic, tradition

Iconographic study of solar bull motifs across Early Harappan, Vedic, and Avestan traditions, tracing shared Indo-Iranian religious symbolism.

Indian Historical Writing

vedic, tradition

Analyzes Indian historical writing traditions, focusing on Vaṃśāvalīs and their relationship to Vedic oral transmission and chronicle composition.

Iranians Vs Vedic Aryans

vedic

Explores historical and linguistic divergences between Vedic Aryans and ancient Iranians, analyzing religious, cultural, and geopolitical splits.

Isha Upanishad

upanishad

English edition or translation of the Isha Upanishad, highlighting renunciation, action, inner self, and the relation between knowledge and world-engagement.

Jews and Hindus in Indology

tradition

Comparative study of how Jewish and Hindu traditions have been handled within modern Indology.

Katha Upanishad

upanishad

English edition or translation of the Katha Upanishad, highlighting death, the self, disciplined choice, and liberation through insight.

Kena Upanishad

brahman, upanishad

English edition or translation of the Kena Upanishad, highlighting the limits of ordinary cognition and the grounding of mind and speech in brahman.

Kurma Purana

dharma

Edition or translation of the Kurma Purana, cosmology, pilgrimage, dharma, and sectarian theology in dialogic form.

Light of the Vedas

ritual, veda, vedic

Newsletter-style reflections and essays on Vedic spirituality, leadership, and contemporary applications of Vedic thought.

Linga Purana

sacred

Edition or translation of the Linga Purana, Shaiva theology of the linga alongside cosmology, vows, and sacred geography.

Logic of Rig Vedic Geography

veda, vedic

Explore the geographical framework of the Rig Veda through Shrikant Talageri's analysis. Discover how Vedic texts map ancient Indian rivers, mountains, and settlements.

Lokopakara

tradition

Traditional practical compendium on useful arts, household knowledge, and applied sciences.

Maitrayaniya Upanishad

upanishad

English edition or translation of the Maitrayaniya Upanishad, highlighting self-knowledge, mind, time, cosmology, and yogic discipline.

Mandukya Upanishad

upanishad

English edition or translation of the Mandukya Upanishad, highlighting Om, waking-dream-sleep states, and the non-dual fourth state.

Matsya Purana

temple

Edition or translation of the Matsya Purana, the flood myth together with temple, iconographic, genealogical, and pilgrimage material.

Mundaka Upanishad

brahman, upanishad

English edition or translation of the Mundaka Upanishad, highlighting higher and lower knowledge, brahman, renunciation, and liberation.

Narada Purana

ritual

Edition or translation of the Narada Purana, ritual, devotion, pilgrimage, and religious observance in a Purana compendium format.

Non Aryan Names In Rig Veda

veda, vedic

Linguistic study identifying non-Indo-Aryan personal and place names in the Rig Veda, exploring substrate influences and cultural exchanges.

On Natyashastra

shastra

Introductory or interpretive study of the Natyashastra and its framework for drama, performance, and rasa.

On Talageri

vedic, tradition

Critical review of Shrikant Talageri's Out of India theories, contrasting traditional Vedic chronology with mainstream Indo-European migration models.

On the Battle of Ten Kings

veda, vedic

A detailed philological and historical analysis of the Dasharajna battle in the Rig Veda, examining tribal alliances and geopolitical implications.

On the Meaning of Hymns to Maruts in the Rigveda

ritual, veda, vedic

Philological examination of Marut hymns in the Rig Veda, exploring storm mythology, ritual significance, and Indo-Iranian parallels.

On the Nature of Mathematics and Scientific Knowledge in Indian Tradition

tradition

Study of how Indian traditions theorized mathematics, knowledge, and scientific reasoning.

On The Preliminary Periodization Of The Harappan Civilization

vedic

Proposes a revised chronological framework for the Harappan civilization, aligning archaeological phases with early Vedic cultural developments.

Out of India Case in Full

vedic

Comprehensive synthesis of linguistic, archaeological, and textual arguments supporting the Out of India theory for Indo-European origins.

Padma Purana

dharma, sacred

Edition or translation of the Padma Purana, creation, pilgrimage, dharma, sacred places, and large Vaishnava devotional sections.

Poetic Immortality to Salvation

tradition

Study tracing shifts from heroic-poetic ideals toward soteriological concerns in Sanskrit traditions.

Prashna Upanishad

upanishad

English edition or translation of the Prashna Upanishad, highlighting six questions on prana, cosmology, Om, and the inner self.

Purva Mimamsa in its Sources

ritual, mimamsa

Source-based introduction to Purva Mimamsa doctrine and textual method.

Pūrva-pakṣa of Sheldon Pollock's use of Chronology

tradition

A critical examination of Sheldon Pollock's chronological methodologies, offering counterarguments rooted in traditional Indian historiography and textual analysis.

Quintessence of Brahmasutra

brahma-sutra, veda, tradition

Introductory digest of Vedanta centered on the Brahmasutra tradition and its key metaphysical claims.

Religious Sects of Hindus

tradition

Survey of major Hindu sects, their doctrines, institutions, and devotional lineages.

Rig Vedic History

vedic

Reconstructs early Indian history through Rigvedic linguistic parameters, mapping tribal movements, geographical shifts, and cultural developments.

Rigveda a Historical Analysis

veda, vedic

Historical reading of the Rigveda that uses textual evidence to discuss chronology, culture, and social setting.

Rigvedic And Written Mature Harappan 1

vedic

Initial analysis proposing linguistic continuity between Rigvedic vocabulary and Indus Valley inscriptions, challenging invasion narratives.

Rigvedic And Written Mature Harappan 2

vedic

Continues the exploration of linguistic parallels between Rigvedic Sanskrit and the undeciphered Indus script, proposing structural correlations.

Sastradipika

ritual, vedic, scriptural, mimamsa

Classical Mimamsa text on interpretation, injunction, and the structure of Vedic authority.

Siddhantabindu

veda

Vedantic sub-commentarial text presenting core Advaita positions in a compact form.

Skanda Purana

sacred

Edition or translation of the Skanda Purana, a vast pilgrimage-oriented Purana organized around sacred geography and regional mahatmyas.

Taittiriya Upanishad

brahman, vedic, upanishad

English edition or translation of the Taittiriya Upanishad, highlighting the sheaths of the self, brahman as bliss, and the transmission of Vedic learning.

The Advaita Vedanta of Brahmasiddhi

veda, tradition

Study of the Brahmasiddhi tradition and major issues in Advaita metaphysics and epistemology.

The Debate Between Talageri and Hoch

vedic

Critical overview of the academic exchange between Shrikant Talageri and Hans Heinrich Hock on Vedic chronology and Indo-European origins.

The Harappan Heritage And The Aryan Problem

vedic

Examines cultural and archaeological continuity between the Indus Valley Civilization and early Vedic culture, addressing the Aryan migration narrative.

The Kalās

tradition

Work on Indian Knowledge Systems, bringing traditional categories into conversation with practice, theory, or pedagogy.

The Mimamsa Sutras of Jaimini

ritual, vedic, scriptural, mimamsa

Another edition of the Mimamsa Sutras presenting the core framework of Vedic hermeneutics and duty.

The Paramarthasara of Adisesa

tradition

Philosophical text associated with non-dual Shaiva traditions and the path to liberation.

The Passion of Paul Hacker

tradition

Critical study of Paul Hacker and the theological-political assumptions behind his work on Hindu traditions.

The Purva Mimamsa Sutras of Jaimini

ritual, vedic, scriptural, mimamsa

Foundational Mimamsa sutra text on ritual duty, injunction, and scriptural interpretation.

The Redemption of the Brahman

brahman

Interpretive essay on the figure of the Brahman and debates about textual and cultural transformation.

The Riks

ritual, vedic

Selection and interpretation of Rigvedic hymns highlighting poetic vision, symbolism, and early Vedic spirituality.

The Sanauli Chariot And Its Archaeological and Historical Context

vedic

Analyzes the Sanauli chariot burials, evaluating their technological features and implications for Bronze Age warfare and Vedic chronology.

The Sankhya Aphorisms of Kapila

tradition

Presentation of the Sankhya aphorism tradition on purusha, prakriti, tattvas, and liberation.

The Sarasvati River Issues And Debates

vedic

A comprehensive overview of academic debates surrounding the Sarasvati River, blending geology, archaeology, and Vedic textual evidence.

The Secret of the Veda

ritual, veda, vedic

Sri Aurobindo’s symbolic interpretation of the Vedic hymns as spiritual and psychological texts rather than merely ritual documents.

The Vedas

ritual, veda, vedic, scriptural

General introduction to the Vedas, outlining their structure, themes, ritual setting, and long civilizational influence.

Treatise on Rigveda

veda, vedic

Extended interpretive study of the Rigveda with attention to language, symbolism, and historical understanding.

True Meaning Of Ashva

ritual, veda, vedic

Etymological and contextual analysis of 'Ashva' in the Rig Veda, exploring symbolic, ritual, and literal interpretations of the term.

Vamana Purana

tradition

Edition or translation of the Vamana Purana, mythic narrative, pilgrimage, and Vaishnava themes around the Vamana tradition.

Vanishing Rivers Yesterdays Sarasvati Todays Ganga

vedic

Traces the hydrological and historical evolution of the Sarasvati River, exploring its shift in Vedic texts and its modern identification with ancient river systems.

Varaha Purana

ritual

Edition or translation of the Varaha Purana, Vaishnava cosmology, ritual observance, pilgrimage, and the Varaha incarnation.

Varsagira Battle

veda, vedic

Historical and geographical analysis of the Varsagira battle in the Rig Veda, mapping tribal movements and early Vedic geopolitical shifts.

Vayu Purana

sacred

Edition or translation of the Vayu Purana, cosmology, genealogies, dynastic memory, and ancient sacred lore.

Vedic Genetics Cow Omni Form Decipherment

vedic

Explores symbolic and genetic interpretations of Vedic cow imagery, linking ancient iconography to modern decipherment attempts of Indus Valley seals.

Vedic Roots Of Early Tamil Culture

vedic, tradition

Explores linguistic and cultural connections between early Vedic traditions and ancient Tamil Sangam literature, challenging rigid linguistic divides.

Vishnu In Rigveda

veda, vedic

Philological study of Vishnu's early presence in the Rig Veda, tracing the evolution of solar and cosmic attributes in Vedic hymns.

Vishnu Purana

dharma

Edition or translation of the Vishnu Purana, creation, dynasties, avatara doctrine, cosmology, and dharma in a foundational Vaishnava Purana.

Wisdom of the Ancient Seers

ritual, vedic, upanishad, tradition

Introductory reflections on Vedic and Upanishadic insight framed for modern readers.

Yogasutra with Commentary of Madhavacharya

tradition

Yoga Sutra text accompanied by traditional commentary for philosophical and practical interpretation.

Ancient Temples and Modern Dacoits Part III - The Architectural Workshop of the Gurjara-Pratiharas

temple

The Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty as the defining force in north Indian temple architecture — the temple clusters of Morena and Naresar as laboratories where the distinctive regional style was forged.

Case Against AOL - A Case of Malicious Prosecution

ritual

How Hindu spiritual organizations become targets of malicious prosecution — the Art of Living controversy as a case study in the left-missionary alliance that weaponizes courts and media against Hindu public figures.

Continuous, Comprehensive and Cumulative - The Knowledge Tradition of India

tradition

India's knowledge tradition characterized by three properties that colonial historiography denied it — its continuity across millennia, its comprehensiveness across all domains, and its cumulative rather than rupture-based development.

Dharmic Circuits - Sacred Pathways - Part 1

sacred, temple, tradition

The Hindu geography of Bharatvarsha as a structured sacred space — how teertha yatra creates a living network of centers and pathways that defines the cultural boundaries of the civilization.

Dharmic Circuits - The Temple, The Grove and The Lake - Part 3

vedic, sacred, temple, tradition

Sringeri as the model of a complete sacred ecology — where the temple, the forest, the river, and the Vedic institution are not separate entities but one inseparable living system.

Dukh, Depression and Journeys of Life - Depression is the Absence of Dukkha - Part I

tradition

The provocative argument that depression is the absence of duḥkha, not its presence — how the Sanskrit framework for suffering provides an experiential map that modern psychology, focused on symptom-removal, cannot offer.

Fighting for India - Britain vs Russia in the Great Game

tradition

The Galwan Valley clash traced back to its root cause: the Great Game's dismantling of India's traditional buffer states — why India now borders China at all is a legacy of 19th-century British-Russian competition.

Grasping for the Beyond - On a Critical Schism in the Modern Psyche

sacred, tradition

Weber's disenchantment and Jung's diagnosis of the Western mind as a madhouse of abstractions — arguing that the modern psyche's loss of the sacred is precisely the illness that India's living metaphysical tradition can address.

How Old is the Hindu Temple?

temple

The antiquity of the Hindu temple examined through textual, sculptural, and archaeological evidence — dismantling the Western academic claim that temple architecture was a Buddhist invention absorbed by Hinduism.

In Memoriam - Life and Works of Shri N.S. Rajaram

vedic, tradition

Obituary and intellectual portrait of N.S. Rajaram — his place in the Voice of India tradition, his contributions to Vedic chronology and the Out of India theory, and what his death means for the Hindu Renaissance.

On What is a Hindu Temple

temple

Dr. R. Nagaswamy on the essential nature of the Hindu temple — what it actually is, why its origins predate Buddhism, and how the Western academic genealogy that credits Buddhism with inventing the temple form gets the history exactly backward.

Shri Ram Swarup on the Communist Challenge

ritual

Ram Swarup's early writings on communism as a spiritual and civilizational threat — recovering a neglected dimension of the Voice of India thinker whose work on Islam and Christianity overshadowed his equally penetrating critique of Marxism.

Story of a Priest

priest, temple, tradition

Portrait of the head priest of the Hoysala-era Veera Narayana Temple at Belavadi — how a 12th-century heritage temple survives and what the priest's life reveals about the community of practice that keeps the living tradition alive.

The Many Meanings of the Hindu Temple

sacred, temple

The Hindu temple as simultaneously sacred mountain, cosmic axis, human body, and gateway between worlds — a layered symbolic reading of the temple form as encoded theological knowledge made visible in stone.

The Truth and the Humbug in Greta Thunberg's Climate Change Speech

dharma

Separating the genuine environmental alarm in Greta Thunberg's speech from its ideological packaging — what the climate movement gets right, what it gets wrong, and why the solution requires hierarchy and dharma rather than equality and activism.

We the Hindus - What the CAB Means for Hindu Civilization

dharma

The Citizenship Amendment Act read as a civilizational turning point — not refugee policy but India's first post-colonial assertion of its Hindu identity, and what the civilizational stakes of this assertion actually are.

Dharma as Design

dharma

Some views on creativity and design.

Modernity in TV Drama

tradition

Reflections on tradition vs. modernity from the TV show Yellowstone.

A Year in Hajong Village

ritual

How does a small Hindu tribal community in a Christian-majority region preserve its religious and cultural identity under conversion pressure? An ethnographic documentation of Hajong festivals, rituals, and livelihoods in Meghalaya's Garo Hills - a community invisible to most academic and policy discourse.

Dharmic Design

sacred, tradition

What would architecture and design look like if grounded in Dhārmika principles of the sacred and Hindu aesthetics rather than Western modernism? A purva paksha of the Western design tradition, constructing an alternative framework from within the Hindu aesthetic worldview.

Hindu Frameworks of Education

tradition

What living models of traditional Hindu education still survive in India - and what do they demonstrate about the alternative to Western schooling? Field studies of surviving gurukulas, pathshalas, and vidyalayas documenting how Indian Knowledge Systems are transmitted in practice today.

Hindu Models of Temple Management

temple, tradition

How did the traditional Hindu temple function as a self-governing civilizational institution - and what would it take to recover that from state-imposed bureaucratic management? Research building the case for culture-sensitive temple governance by documenting indigenous models of administration.

Hindu Response to Enlightenment

veda

Where does Enlightenment rationalism reveal its own metaphysical blind spots - and what does Hindu philosophy offer in response? A civilizational dialogue contrasting Western secular universalism with Vedantic metaphysical plurality, proposing a Hindu diagnostic rather than a defensive rejection.

Temples of Madhya Pradesh

sacred, temple

What do three hundred surviving ancient temple sites of Madhya Pradesh reveal about the full range of Hindu sacred architecture - and what was lost to medieval destruction? A deep architectural and sculptural study of ten major temple clusters, making the grammar of Hindu temple-building legible.

The Battle for Dharma in North-East

dharma

What has large-scale conversion and demographic change done to the Dhārmika civilizational fabric of Northeast India? A deep policy study of how missionary activity and political isolation have severed the region from the rest of Bhārata - and what reversal requires.

Is Modernity Compatible With Hindu Values

dharma

Is modernity - with its secularism, rights-framework, and assault on varṇāśrama dharma - compatible with Hindu values, or structurally hostile to Hindu civilization?

What Hindu Institution Will Generate All Others

temple

Which single Hindu institution - the Hindu state, the gurukula, or the temple - could regenerate all others if everything else were lost? A question of civilizational triage and generative capacity.

What Idea Must Die, for Hindu Renaissance

dharma

What idea must die for Hindu renaissance to happen - caste, secularism, modernity, sarva-dharma-samabhāva, or the very category of religion applied to dharma?

What is the Core of Sanatana Dharma

dharma, sanatana

What is the unchanging core of Sanatana Dharma - an idea, an institution, a worldview, or a value system? Bodha's most foundational research question.

What Will Save Sanatana Dharma

dharma, sanatana

Inspired by the Śaunaka praśna of the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad - what is the one idea, institution, or action whose presence would ensure the survival of Sanatana Dharma?

School of Conscilience

tradition

This school holds that the West's divorce between sciences and humanities is a civilizational pathology - and that the Indian knowledge tradition, which never separated the two, offers a working model of their reintegration.

School of Cultural Traditionalists

upanishad, tradition

The oldest living school in India - scholars who see themselves as contemporary interpreters of the same tradition that produced the Upanishads and the Nāṭyaśāstra - treating metaphysics, aesthetics, and philosophy as one continuous project rather than separate departments.

School of Political Traditionalists

tradition

A school of Hindu conservatism drawing on Burke, Scruton, and Indian classical statecraft to argue for civilizational continuity over ideological reinvention - increasingly influential in post-Nehruvian policy but insufficiently read outside political circles.

Sri Aurobindo’s School

ritual

Sri Aurobindo's synthesis - the spiritual evolution of consciousness as the framework within which India's civilizational mission - and humanity's future - can be understood, making it the most philosophically ambitious Hindu response to modernity.

Swami Vivekananda's School

veda

The school that launched Hindu renaissance - Vivekananda's reading of Vedanta as both universal philosophy and basis for Hindu action produced the template every subsequent Hindu revivalist movement has worked with, consciously or not.

AK Saran

tradition

A rare Indian sociologist who refused to think inside British intellectual frameworks - his is one of the few attempts to develop a genuinely Hindu social science, reading the tradition from within rather than against Western categories.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

tradition

The philosopher of fragility who argues that modern civilization traded a robust, decentralized wisdom tradition for brittle expert systems - and that this trade is actively destroying us while we congratulate ourselves on progress.

Ram Swarup

vedic

The thinker who explained what the Vedic gods actually are, how polytheism works as a philosophical system, and why the prophetic monotheist critique of Hinduism fundamentally misunderstands what it is attacking - essential reading before any encounter with missionary argument.

SK Ramachandra Rao

temple

A Karnataka polymath whose encyclopedic work on Hindu iconography and temple architecture reveals the metaphysical logic embedded in every sculptural form and spatial arrangement - the temple not as monument but as cosmological diagram made stone.

Theodore Dalrymple

tradition

A prison doctor who documented from the inside the cultural wreckage produced by Western progressivism - his clinical observations are the evidence base for what political traditionalists argue at the level of theory.