Recently, some friends of mine on a WhatsApp group were engaged in chatter while discussing comparative Jain community population versus Ayyangar community size. Although , the Jains represent a religious minority while Ayyangars represent a Hindu sect , the lively discussion continued nevertheless. My views stated during the discussions were as follows : Ayyangars areContinue reading “What is present population size of Ayyangars? And how large is the size of the “Vadakalai” subsect?”
Category Archives: History
Post-Iran attack on February 28, 2026, The World can kiss “New World Order” goodbye.
The day after the Israeli-American attack on Iran and the killing of Ayatollah Khomeini, I couldn’t help falling into a self-introspective mood. Looking back at history, I thought to myself, wasn’t the world always better off when there were many little rogue-nations that nevertheless minded their own business and backyards than now, in sad contrast,Continue reading “Post-Iran attack on February 28, 2026, The World can kiss “New World Order” goodbye.”
The Carnatic Music world quietly forgot (maybe even forgave?) Kamal Hassan deriding Saint Thyagaraja… but not this feisty Muslim woman!
The whole world of Carnatic Music aficionados, institutions, Vidwans, Rasikas and musicologist should watch this video-clip below and hang their collective heads in shame and sin. https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1DLUSD44eC/?mibextid=wwXIfr The Muslim woman castigates Kamal Haasan for having disgraced Sri Thyagaraja once when he spoke during an Instagram Live conversation with actor Vijay Sethupathi on May 4, 2020.Continue reading “The Carnatic Music world quietly forgot (maybe even forgave?) Kamal Hassan deriding Saint Thyagaraja… but not this feisty Muslim woman!”
Dushyant Sridhar’s jingoistic FB comment only proves the point made in my 2024 book: “The Decline and Fall of the “ubhaya vedantins”
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1818EjnJ4E/?mibextid=wwXIfr https://www.facebook.com/share/v/17puU48Ue2/ The above URL of Sri. Dushyant Sridhar short-video clip of course will be music indeed to the ears and hearts of Vadakalais . I’m sure Dushyant’s fan following might increase by a few hundreds. It will most certainly be red rag waved in the raging faces of the Tenkalais . But the questionContinue reading “Dushyant Sridhar’s jingoistic FB comment only proves the point made in my 2024 book: “The Decline and Fall of the “ubhaya vedantins””
“Eepa” (Sri. Indira Parthasarathy) and I discuss T.M.Krishna’s caricature of the “guru sishya sambhandham”
https://scroll.in/article/1090081/how-the-traditional-guru-shishya-system-undermined-critical-thinking-in-india https://swarajyamag.com/culture/no-the-guru-iya-parampar-was-never-about-blind-obedience This morning I forwarded/ Shared the above to links to “Eepa” Sir to read and give his views. He is a deep scholar in the traditional literature of India and I was keen to know what he would make out of TM Krishna’s specious thesis on the ancient Hindu educational institution handed downContinue reading ““Eepa” (Sri. Indira Parthasarathy) and I discuss T.M.Krishna’s caricature of the “guru sishya sambhandham””
Tenkalai and Vadakalai Sri Vaishnavas’ endless legal battle: Can a Phyrric victory for either side erase the “writing on the wall” for both?
Pyrrhic means a victory won at such a devastating cost that it’s almost a defeat. King Pyrrhus of Epirus: his army suffered huge losses winning battles against the Romans, leaving him too weak to continue. It describes any success that ultimately proves worthless due to the immense price paid, like winning a lawsuit but losing everything in legalContinue reading “Tenkalai and Vadakalai Sri Vaishnavas’ endless legal battle: Can a Phyrric victory for either side erase the “writing on the wall” for both?”
“Six blind men, the elephant and a Tower of Babel”: How intellectuals think they really are making sense out of a senseless world
We in India believe ourselves to be equal intellectuals of those in the West who over the years have fed us with specious theories and treatises on how to make sense of the world and all its geopolitical tumult and historic tragedies. For many years now, I myself have been an avid reader and followerContinue reading ““Six blind men, the elephant and a Tower of Babel”: How intellectuals think they really are making sense out of a senseless world”
“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”: William Shakespeare
When this biography above of EV Ramaswamy (aka “Periyar”) grabs a lot more readership and eyeballs in Tamil Nadu and in far away Cambridge than my own recently published book on Rt. Hon’ble Srinivasa Sastri does even in Mylapore, Chennai, India (see below), you might tend to say that it brings to mind at once a veryContinue reading ““Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”: William Shakespeare”
“Move over Monroe, it’s now the “Donroe Doctrine” that’s taking control over a “rules-based World Order”!
Commenting on the above Op-Ed and headline subject, this morning I had a lively exchange of views on WhatsApp with a very respected friend of mine in Bangalore who is also a retired IAS officer having served with distinction in an erstwhile PMO (Prime Minister’s Office). He wrote : “No country is safe if RICContinue reading ““Move over Monroe, it’s now the “Donroe Doctrine” that’s taking control over a “rules-based World Order”!”
“Brahmins as secret Muslims”: Devdutt Pattnaik’s hodge-podge he tries selling as exotic delicacy
Devdutt Pattanaik’s recent framing of “Brahmins as secret Muslims” and his analogy between Brahminical and Islamic ways of life rests on several contestable historical, textual, and sociological assumptions that can be systematically challenged. The “secret Muslims” thesis collapses very different histories and concepts into a single polemical frame. A counter‑narrative can be built by takingContinue reading ““Brahmins as secret Muslims”: Devdutt Pattnaik’s hodge-podge he tries selling as exotic delicacy”