History

The Unremembered War

Madhavankutty Pillai

World War I, which ended a hundred years ago, saw the participation of 1.5 million Indians who have been forgotten

Silence of the Scientists

Kalpish Ratna

A recently discovered letter by Galileo offers a clue to the tragic fate that befell the 16th century botanist Garcia d’Orta in Goa and reminds us of the value of freedom

The Virus That Killed 18 Million Indians

Madhavankutty Pillai

Exactly a 100 years ago, a ship returning with World War I soldiers unleashed the Spanish Flu in India. The worst pandemic in human history is strangely unremembered

Sultans and Rajas

Manu S Pillai

The Hindu-Muslim rivalries for power in the Deccan were not examples of communal acrimony

Syama Prasad Mookerjee: Out of Sight

Bibek Debroy

Syama Prasad Mookerjee doesn’t get the scholarly attention he deserves

Abdul Karim: On Her Majesty’s Service

Pallavi Pundir

In the court of Queen Victoria, Abdul Karim from Agra was more than an attendant

Enlightenment in the Gobi Desert

Nanditha Krishna

Amidst the India-China standoff elsewhere, art unites the two countries on the Silk Road. Nanditha Krishna looks at the Grottoes of a Thousand Buddhas to realise how civilisation is a unifying force even in the time of adversity