Article/Essay
 6 Jan 2015 Article/Essay
Scientific opinion:
A critical study of the work - VYMANIKA SHASTRA
By H.S.Mukunda, S.M.Deshpande, H.R.Nagendra, A.Prabhu and S.P.Govindaraju
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore - 1974

A study by aeronautical and mechanical engineering researchers at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore... Read More
 5 Jan 2015 Article/Essay
Article:
Understanding ancient Indian mathematics
By S.G.Dani
The Hindu - December 26, 2011

It is high time we studied our mathematical heritage with diligence and objectivity.

Quite often I find that conversations, with people from various walks of life, on ancient Indian mathematics slide to ... Read More
 4 Jan 2015 Article/Essay
Article:
India's contribution to Arab mathematics
By Khalil Jaouiche

Abstract:
This paper was presented at the Colloque de Saint-Denis de la Re-
union, November 3-7, 1997, and published in the book L 'Ocean Indien au carrefour des mathematiques arabes, chinoises, europeennes et indiennes (pp. 2... Read More
 14 Dec 2014 Article/Essay
Article:
Visions of Indian Art
By William Dalrymple
The New York Review of Books - June 2013

One morning in 1740, a thin young man could be seen heading down the steep cobbled road leading from the Kashmir Gate of the Punjabi hilltown of Guler, and making for the banks of the fast-running river... Read More
 13 Aug 2014 Article/Essay
Article:
Government to trace the lost river Saraswati
By Vishwa Mohan
Times News | Aug 12, 2014

NEW DELHI: Government has launched an effort to unravel the mystery behind the ancient Saraswati river, which found its references in 'vedic' texts.

Though efforts had been made in the past by geolog... Read More
 8 Aug 2014 Article/Essay
Article:
Lady of the Raj
By William Dalrymple
The Guardian, Saturday 9 June 2009

Fanny Parkes's exuberant journals trace her journey from prim memsahib to sitar-playing Indophile and provide one of the most enjoyable accounts of colonial India, discovers William Dalrymple.

I first heard about t... Read More
 6 Jul 2014 Article/Essay
Article:
How history was made up at Nalanda
By Arun Shourie | June 28, 2014

“The mine of learning, honoured Nalanda” — that is how the 16th-17th century Tibetan historian, Taranath, referred to the university at Nalanda. At the time I-tsing was at the university, there were 3,700 monks. The tota... Read More
 4 May 2014 Article/Essay
Article:
Vultures continue to give a miss to a temple in Tamil Nadu
Deccan Herald, May 03, 2014

Some 14 years ago, newspapers published a report stating sick vultures were being taken by an Indian Airlines flight from Jaipur to Mumbai for finding out the reason, why most of the vultures in India... Read More
 30 Apr 2014 Article/Essay
The Appeal

If I have given you delight
By aught that I have done,
Let me lie quiet in that night
Which shall be yours anon:
And for that little, little span
The dead are borne in mind
Seek not to question other than
The books I leave behind.

"The Appeal," by Rudyard Kipling, published posthumou... Read More
 29 Apr 2014 Article/Essay
Article:
Kipling first edition with author's poignant note found
BBC News

A rare first edition of The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, with a poignant handwritten note by the author to his young daughter, has been discovered.

The book was found by librarians at the National Trust's Wimpole Hall ... Read More
 20 Apr 2014 Article/Essay
Essay:
Progressive Artists Group of Bombay: An Overview
The Spirit of Late 1940s and Early 1950s
By Ratan Parimoo and Nalini Bhagwat

Although the first exhibition of the Progressive Artists Group was held in 1949, in the then Bombay city, the group came formally into existence as early as 1947, ... Read More
 20 Apr 2014 Article/Essay
The Progressive Artist's Group, Bombay:

Monsoon in Bombay, by Syed Haider Raza, watercolour on paper, Bombay, ca. 1947-1949

Painting, in watercolour on paper, depicting the Flora Fountain with surrounding buildings in central Bombay during the rainy season. The artist has applied the paint in ... Read More
 18 Mar 2014 Article/Essay
Beautiful libraries of the world

The Biblioteca Marciana in Venice, Italy

The first-floor entrance lobby to the Biblioteca Marciana (completed in 1564) in Venice is reached by a dramatic and richly decorated staircase from an outside doorway in the center of the grand facade facing the Doge's ... Read More
 18 Mar 2014 Article/Essay
Beautiful libraries of the world

The Tripitaka Koreana, Haeinsa Temple, South Korea

The Tripitaka Koreana, Haeinsa Temple, South Korea, 1231. This is one of the oldest and most remarkable collections in the world. The items on the shelves are not books, but wooden printing blocks. There are ov... Read More
 18 Mar 2014 Article/Essay
Beautiful libraries of the world

Bibliothèque Sainte- Geneviève, Paris

The exterior of the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève in Paris (1850) was the inspiration for the Boston City Library but the interiors of the two buildings could hardly be more different. The Paris library pictured here consis... Read More
 18 Mar 2014 Article/Essay
Beautiful libraries of the world

Wiblingen Abbey's library, Germany

The Rococo produced some of the most sumptuous library interiors in history. The library of Wiblingen Abbey (1744) in Southern Germany is a riot of colors, rich golds, light pinks and blues, every surface positively dripping i... Read More
 18 Mar 2014 Article/Essay
Beautiful libraries of the world

The Peabody Library, Baltimore (U.S.)

Gas lighting and iron created a new form of library in the nineteenth century: the iron stack hall. The Peabody Library (1878) in Baltimore is the best surviving example. Virtually everything in this picture-- the columns, t... Read More
 18 Mar 2014 Article/Essay
Beautiful libraries of the world

Admont Library, Austria

Of all the great monastery libraries of the eighteenth century, Admont, in the foothills of the Alps, is perhaps the most awe-inspiring. The corridors and staircases that lead to this room are relatively plain and nothing prepares the vi... Read More
 18 Mar 2014 Article/Essay
Beautiful libraries of the world

Mafra, Portugal

Mafra, in Portugal is 88m (288ft) long, making it the longest monastic library in the world, narrowly beating Admont to the title. Housed in a monastery within a royal palace, the library was originally intended to be gilded and to have an ornat... Read More
 15 Mar 2014 Article/Essay
Essay:
A Photograph of Four Orientalists (Bombay, 1885):
Knowledge Production, Religious Identities, and the Negotiation of Invisible Conflicts
By Filipa Lowndes Vicente

In October 1885, four men got together in a Bombay studio to have a photograph taken of them dressed as Hindu Brahmans. The im... Read More
 12 Mar 2014 Article/Essay
ROBERT MELVILLE GRINDLAY (1786-1877) was that peculiarly English product, the gifted amateur. He was born at St. Mary-le-Bone, then a village near London and, to put the event into historical perspective, it occurred two years after the passing of Pitt's India Act and two years before Warren Hast... Read More