A Craftsman Carving Woodcut for Textile Printing What connects a hand-printed cotton textile from western India, a Buddhist scripture from Tang China, a Japanese ukiyo-e print, and the inexpensive illustrated chapbooks sold in the crowded lanes of colonial Calcutta? At first glance, these objects may seem unrelated, separated by geography, language, and purpose. Yet all of them emerge from the same simple technological principle: carving a surface, applying pigment, and trans

Her tari ragum chi kushnawayi dared Her taar Juda Juda sada mai goyed —Khawaja Habibiullah Naushari Hubi The archeological evidence points to the existence of singing and dancing in Kashmir from ancient times. King Harsha who ruled Kashmir between 1089 and 1101 is said to have been an ardent lover of music and its patron, among many other art forms. Music was present in the Buddhist viharas in Jalauka. Soamnath Dhar writes,“Music was a must at religious ceremonies, particular

On 19 November 1921, one hundred prisoners, ninety-seven Mappilas and three Hindus arrested for offenses relating to the Malabar Rebellion, were loaded into a goods wagon and were being transported to Podanur. When the train arrived at Podanur, the wagon was opened to find all prisoners collapsed, several lying on top of each other. When they were pulled out, fifty-six of them were dead already. The next morning the remaining forty-four were taken by another train to Coimbato

The Mughals were connoisseurs of art and this was not limited to paintings, music, dance or architecture. The creation of delectable and aesthetic delicacies was considered no less than an art, requiring a lot of patience and passion. Food was a serious affair with the royal chefs creating magic with anything they cooked. Today, let’s visit the royal kitchen and see how this magic was created! Kitchen Protocols The royal physician finalized the menu, ensuring the inclusion of

Ajmeri’s Oven In Action [Photo by Syed Shakir Ali Al Hossaini] The colonial hangover made us believe that the oldest bakery in Calcutta has to be owned by some “phirangi”. A quick Google search shows the oldest bakery in Kolkata is Nahoum & Sons (1902). But is it for a fact? Streets of Calcutta rejects this claim, and the streets lead us to Ajmeri Bakery in Central Calcutta. A 200-year-old bakery owned by a Muslim Indian is still breathing breads and biscuits even after eight

Najafgarh-perhaps many people in Delhi are unaware of this town and rarely realize that it possesses a fort and several historically significant sites. Dotted with grand old havelis, and as one walks through the streets of its main bazaar, it often feels like stepping into the lanes of Old Delhi. Situated in the south-west of Delhi, it derives its name from the medieval ruler Mirza Najaf Khan. According to historians, he belonged to the Persian Safavid royal family, which was

“The Swadeshi movement was inaugurated. People, young and old, used to run away at the sight of an English face; it now no longer awes them. They do not fear even a row, or being imprisoned. Some of the best sons of India are at present in banishment. This is something different from mere petitioning. Thus are the people moved.” - M.K. Gandhi, Hind Swaraj This massive claim came at the time of predicament in partition ethos where the historical consciousness of communal inte

Shyam Chand or Shyam Chand Rai temple was a temple built during the 17th century in Bishnupur sub-division of Bankura district. The temple was dedicated to the worship of Shri Krishna in the form of Shyam Chand. Shri Krishna is termed as Shyam because which means “dark skinned’’, whereas Chand or Chandra refers to moon as shri Krishna had the serene and radiant personality which shined like moon, hence Krishna was worshipped as Shyam Chand. The temple was built by the queen S

Nilambur is a small town situated in the foothills of the Western Ghats in the Malappuram district of Kerala. If you travel to Nilambur today, its thick forests, the Shornur-Nilambur railway that passes through these forests, the Connolly plot, and the adjacent teak museum, one of its kind, are major tourist attractions. To reach the heart of the Connolly plot, one has to cross the hanging bridge running across the Chaliyar River. The teak plantation in Nilambur, now named Co

Introduction About a millennium ago, a group of Parsi families arrived at the coast of Gujarat, escaping brutal Arab persecution in their homeland, Persia (modern-day Iran). They promised to mingle with Indians the way sugar mixes in milk and sure enough, this small yet industrious group of Zoroastrian men and women sweetened India’s fortune with their glorious deeds. Jamsetji Tata, Homi Bhabha, Sam Manekshaw- Parsis excelled in every field one could name and cemented an inde

Qeşsa Sajan notes that the Parsis had economic ties with the Indian Subcontinent since the Achaemenid period. The Story of Sajan gives details of the arrival of the Zoroastrians from Persia who, to evade persecution, went into hiding in the mountains only to move after a hundred years to Hormuz. The dastur , upon reading the stars is said to have declared, ‘Our destiny lies elsewhere, we must leave Diu and seek another place of refuge.’Once they reached India, the local ru

Wendy Brown, in her piece, “Finding Man in the State”, argued while highlighting the liberal dimension of the state that in classical and contemporary liberal discourses, the familial domain has always been accorded the status of pre-political and a humane arena devoid of historicity or to be more precise, “naturally ordained”. In contrast to this, civil society is the space where rights are guaranteed by the state (“non-natural entity”) on the natural actors to maintain civi

"Zamaane ke jis daur se hum guzar rahe hain, agar aap isse naawaaqif hain to mere afsaane padhiye. Agar aap in afsaanon ko bardaasht nahi kar sakte to iska matlab hai ki ye zamaana naaqaabil-e-bardaasht hai." (If you are unacquainted with the era we are passing through, read my stories. If you cannot bear these stories, it means that the era is unbearable.) Saadat Hasan Manto, who failed his matriculation examination twice due to weak Urdu, went on to become one of its finest

A Koothu performance lasting forty-one days is being held at the Vadakkunnathan Temple in Thrissur. On stage is Ammannur Chachu Chakyar, the lead performer of the Ammannur Chakyar family, one of Kerala's most distinguished lineages of Koothu artists. In the audience is Rama Varma XV, the recently abdicated Maharaja of Cochin. Chachu Chakyar, dressed as the vidhushaka, turns to the maharaj and poses a bold question. ‘Did you abdicate the throne of your own will? Or where you m

The earliest evidence of wool-making in Kashmir dates back to the Neolithic period, as evidenced by R.C. Kak’s findings at Burzahom, sixteen kilometres from Srinagar. According to V Ganju, shawls were indeed manufactured during the epic age. Kurus were given ten thousand shawls to the Pandavas, and they are said to have found a place in Sita's trousseau as well. Kalahana in his Rajtarangini, also writes of people donning beautiful woollen fabrics on their shoulders. The produ

“He (Birbal) was possessed of a considerable amount of capacity and genius…and was honoured with the distinction of becoming the Emperor’s confidant and it became a case of ‘Thy flesh is my flesh and thy blood my blood.” 1 This is how Badayuni, a biographer and a staunch critic of Akbar’s religious eclecticism, describes the emperor’s bond with his beloved courtier, Maheshdas aka Birbal. Badayuni despised Birbal but that did not stop him from admitting that the latter was i

The drain of wealth in the colonial eve of the nineteenth century saw a series of famines as the salt to wounds of the economic structure of colonial India . The Famine of 1866 of Odisha marks one of the ignorant and generalized events that took place in Bengal Presidency. The advent of the English East India company began in Odisha with establishment of the first factory at Hariharpur in 1633 in Balasore district of Odisha. Soon within 200 years Odisha was too found to be

The theoretical formulation of the “Modern Prince” by Antonio Gramsci constitutes an extremely significant reconceptualization of revolutionary political agency in contemporaneity. It is a reinterpretation of Machiavelli’s infamous political tract, “The Prince”, and allocates a form of transformation, from a singular imagery of a sovereign figure to a Sorellian “myth” of political ideology which helps in constructing an embodiment of historic-political consciousness condensed

A Chinese House in Central Calcutta [Photo by Syed Shakir Ali Al Hossaini] Last time you had your cappuccino sitting in an aesthetic cafe with that extra spoon of white sugar, did you take a moment to think when was the first time that Calcutta first had its first refined sugar on the tea table? In this blog, we will explore the histories of refined sugar, the leather industry, beauty parlours, and ‘Desi Chinese’ in the City of Joy. Calcutta’s cultural history is diverse and

In India, history has always been a battleground of ideas and interpretations. It transcends the confines of academia, engaging...