Blogs

The article examines the historical legacy of the Wadiyar dynasty and its pivotal role in shaping modern Mysore through contributions to governance, education, infrastructure, industry, science and culture. Reflecting on the controversy surrounding Mysore Palace and the conduct of Dasara, it draws a distinction between legal ownership and historical inheritance.

Dr Vikram Sampath explores the life of Devi Ahilyabai Holkar, and revisits the possibilities of women’s leadership in 18th-century India, exploring how her vision of governance, compassion and duty offers a distinctively Indic perspective.

Discover how India’s monuments bring together music, science, mathematics, and architecture through extraordinary acoustic innovations. From Hampi’s musical pillars and Airavatesvara Temple’s singing steps to Gol Gumbaz’s Whispering Gallery, explore how ancient builders transformed stone into instruments of sound and spaces of scientific wonder.

Dr Saumya Dey examines how collective memory shapes our sense of the past, and why historians approach popular, inherited memories with caution.

In the earliest gramophone recordings of Indian classical music, women made up more than 80 per cent of the catalogue. Dr Vikram Sampath revisits the forgotten women behind those discs.

Reflections on the life and work of S. L. Bhyrappa, the Kannada novelist whose fiction wrestled with history, memory and truth, written after the inaugural memorial lecture in his name.

Why do the coins and seals of the Hūṇa king Mihirakula portray him so differently? An analysis of how and why a ruler’s looks changed on the coinage of early India.

Some of the most remarkable experiments in education, public health and industry took place in princely states rather than British India. A look at that overlooked legacy, beginning in Kota.

From a Berlin archive of century-old shellac discs, Dr Vikram Sampath makes the case for recovering and sharing the recorded voices of India held in collections abroad.