Central India has a long history of Saivite worship. As seen in earlier posts, Kalinjar Fort as some stunning sculptural...

Since Potsdam was in news thanks to Oppenheimer   This seemingly charming and beautiful,Cecilienhof Palace in Potsdam, Germany was the...

By Bhaskar Parichha Title: In Search of the Divine: Living Histories of Sufism in India Author: Rana Safvi Publisher: Hachette...

Documenting devastation Nizami’s works and the voices of the lesser cast of characters of the Mughal empire come to light...

In ‘In Search of the Divine: Living Histories of Sufism in India’, Rana Safvi maps a millennium of shared spirituality...

BOOK REVIEW ‘In Search of the Divine’: Where Sufism’s syncretic legacy meets author Rana Safvi’s personal faith A combination of...

Tears of Begums: Stories of those who survived the 1857 war The first English translation of Khwaja Hasan Nizami’s 1922...

BOOK REVIEW ‘Tears of the Begums’ is an elegant translation of harrowing testimonies following the 1857 revolt Originally published in...

Central Asia and Iran were renowned centres of advances in science and technology. The field we are discussing today is...

Today when we think of educational institutes we think of Oxford and Cambridge, Harvard and Yale. But from the beginning...

There are very few monuments acknowledged by name as having been built by women especially those of public utility. Chandni...

You know the ragamala is Lalit when you see the gentleman leaving or approaching his sleeping lady . Of course...

The Hathiya Pol in Garh, Bundi built by Rao Ratan Singh (r. 1608-1632) Very reminiscent of the Hathiya Pol in...

Jhoola kinne daara re amriyyan Though there's no amriyyan ( Mango orchards) that Bahadur Shah Zafar referred to in this...

Bundi has one of the largest rock painting sites in India. These are dated to 15,000 years ago. They were...

A classical nayika ( heroine) pose is the enchanting one where she has stepped out of her bath and her...

I came across this dargah in Gulbarga a few years ago. It's called Jhat Pat Bibi ki dargah and women...

the al Thani collection in Paris is small ( at least on display) but its spectacular. That is Jahangir's jade...

Orchha was founded as the capital of Bundelkhand by Rudra Pratap in 1531. He built his citadel on an island...

During my trip to Bodh Gaya in 2019, i walked a lot outside the Mahabodhi temple boundary. To my surprise...

Akbar had an enquiring mind and that can be seen in his interactions with various priests, maulvis and monks in...

One of the best roads I found in my Bihar trip (2019) passed through the village of the Mountain Man,...

In Islam, Thursday evenings or shab e Jumaa is believed to be blessed with a bright night, when Allah’s rahmat...

gulrīzī-e ashk bū-ye khūn dāsht īn subha zi khāk-e karbalā būd The flower-fall of tears was redolent of blood. This...

I had heard a lot about the Buddhist artwork collection in Guimet- perhaps the largest in Europe. What i found...

The gorgeous Armenian Church in Isfahan also known the Church of the Saintly Sisters, calked Vank which means "monastery" or...

The Iran National Museum in Teheran is a treat for the senses spanning as it does many glorious centuries of...

#SufiThursdays Last year I visited the shrine of Gul Baba in Budapest. Gül Baba was a member of the Bektás...

Magar jab shukr-e-ne’mat mein jabin...