-Prachurya Ghosh Print culture refers to the complex system through which written texts are produced, circulated, consumed, and interpreted within society. It includes not only books and newspapers but also pamphlets, posters, journals, advertisements, and all other forms of printed material. The history of print culture is therefore not simply a technological story about the […]Read More
~ Debashri Mandal In 1872, British surveyor Alexander Cunningham uncovered a small clay seal at the ruins of Harappa. It showed a deeply incised bull (no hump) facing right, and above it six short symbols that he could not recognize as any known Indian script. “They are certainly not Indian letters,” Cunningham wrote – he […]Read More
-Oishee Bose How did a rough Siberian peasant gain the trust of a mourning empress and grow into a man whose words could influence who entered and left governmental institutions? The answer is not in a lone theatrical moment or a secret plan. It rests in a gradual collection of fear, confidence, belief, speculation, and […]Read More
-Aritra Biswas According to Hindu philosophy the Shivling (Shiva Linga) is one of the oldest and most sacred symbols where Lord Shiva, the supreme power of destruction, transformation and regeneration resides. Even further than a mere physical object, the Shivling represents the all-embracing cosmic energy that is the source of creation, and into which it […]Read More
-Prachurya Ghosh Introduction: Time as a Colonial Inheritance When people think about British influence on India, they usually imagine railways, English education, legal systems, or political institutions. Very few think about holidays. Festivals feel ancient, emotional, and rooted in religion or tradition. Diwali, Eid, Durga Puja, Pongal, Baisakhi—these seem untouched by colonial rule. Yet one […]Read More
-Prachurya Ghosh The World That Never Imagined Her Razia Sultan was born around 1205 CE into a political system that had no conceptual space for her future. The Delhi Sultanate was still in its infancy, barely three decades old, and already marked by instability, violence, and elite rivalry. Unlike ancient Indian monarchies rooted in myth […]Read More
-Oishee Bose A Woman Made Dangerous: Crime, Gender, and Survival in Colonial Calcutta The usual narrative point to Jack the Ripper as the world’s earliest and most infamous serial killer. A careful look at colonial records and detective memoirs shows that at least seven years before the London murders, a woman in Calcutta named Troilokyo […]Read More
-Aritra Biswas Introduction: A Palace Made of Purpose Umaid Bhavan Palace on high of Chittar Hill in Jodhpur, is one of the last grand royal palaces in India. This palace developed unlike most of the historic forts and palaces, which were constructed in defense or lavish display, and had a different motive which was to […]Read More
~Debashri Mandal In late 1898, British engineer William Claxton Peppé was overseeing estate work in Piprahwa (present-day Siddharthnagar district, Uttar Pradesh, near the India-Nepal border) when his team accidentally uncovered a buried stupa. Excavating the mound revealed a soapstone reliquary urn inscribed in ancient Brahmi script—a message interpreted as confirming that the buried bones and […]Read More
-Prachurya Ghosh Fort William stands today on the eastern edge of Kolkata looking calm almost gentle beside the wide flow of the Hooghly but this calm is deceptive because this ground was once one of the most violently contested pieces of land in South Asia. Before its stone walls rose before cannons and barracks this […]Read More