BOOK REVIEW | A Dark Tale from Cottonwood Grove is a Story of Love and Betrayal
As in Indonesian folktales, moments of beauty and darkness are woven together in the novel. | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStock The silky filaments of cottonwood seeds float across the dark Javanese landscape of Mahfud Ikhwan’s mysterious account of a murder foretold with teasing tenderness and underlying savagery. It is a
BOOK REVIEW | Samantha Harvey’s Orbital’s Pertinent Political Point is Held Back by a Weak Narrative
Six astronauts circle the earth aboard the International Space Station. How do they feel and what do they see in the course of one earth day? This is the premise of Samantha Harvey’s Orbital, which won the 2024 Booker Prize. A slim 136-page affair set in space, it is neither science
Game Changer Review: Is the 2-Hour Film Starring Ram Charan for the Instagram-Reel Generation?
To watch films like these is to see cinema emerge not from the scene but as some haphazard, cumulative, misshapen thing. In picture, director Shankar and actor Ram Charan from the sets of the film. | Photo Credit: BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT Riddle me this. You say you are making a
Manu Pillai: How the Roots of a Defensive Hindu Identity Developed | Frontline At 40 at The Hindu Lit for Life 2025
Manu Pillai in conversation with Vaishna Roy at The Hindu Lit for Life festival 2025 held at Sir Mutha Concert Hall in Chennai on January 19. | Photo Credit: VELANKANNI RAJ B “The ease and enthusiasm with which Hindus in India were able to appropriate that term [Hinduism] shows that
The Role of Women in the Rise of the Chola Empire | Book Excerpt from Anirudh Kanisetti’s ‘Lords of Earth and Sea’
Women had played a central role in the rise of Chola power but as their power faded, so too too did the status of their women. Chola royal women practically disappeared from the historical record from the early twelfth century, as the dynasty shifted from a sprawling empire to a
Book Review: “Theyyam: Indian Folk Ritual Theatre” is a Guide to North Malabar’s Captivating Folk Ritual
Theyyam, a captivating folk ritual of North Malabar, encompasses hundreds of variations: most performed annually, others intermittently, and a few as rarely as once in many decades. Deeply rooted in Malabar’s folk religion, this belief system involves local deities and spirits manifesting on earth by possessing men. This belief system
New Books on the Shelves
Scarlet Sands Udayan Mukherjee Picador Rs.450 The second instalment in the Neville Wadia Mystery series is set in Goa. The body of a British journalist washes up ashore on Anjuna beach, leading to an investigation by Neville that uncovers a corrupt nexus, a mysterious cult, and some dark truths. ___
BOOK REVIEW | The Genesis of Indian Environmentalism in Ramachandra Guha’s “Speaking with Nature”
Tagore was one of the founders of Indian environmentalism,” Ram Guha told me, when I had finally managed to grab a seat near him and start a conversation. “Really?! How so?” I gasped. “You wait till my next book comes out,” he said. This was at a lit fest in
INTERVIEW | Through Paintings, I Tell Stories of Those Who Are Being Erased from the Dominant Narrative: Labani Jangi
Labani Jangi says her award came at a time when she was being questioned by many about the validity and nuances of her art. | Photo Credit: By Special Arrangement Labani Jangi was born in Dhubulia, a village about 40 km away from Plassey, in the district of Nadia in West
How Kashmir’s Sufi Shrines are a Reminder of an Accommodative Islam That Once Existed in the Valley
Kashmir has a rich Sufi heritage, which is enshrined in the ancient tombs and hermitages (or khanqahs) that dot its landscape. Its encounter with Sufism started in the 14th century, when wave upon wave of Sufi theologians from former Mongol and Timurid territories migrated to Kashmir. Historically, six Sufi monastic