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Photograph of the Lion Capital at Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh, from the Kitchener of Khartoum Collection: 'Views of Benares. Presented by the Maharaja of Benares' by Madho Prasad, c.1905. Sarnath is the sacred place where the Buddha preached his first sermon known as the Wheel of Law, the Dharmachakra, in the sixth century BC. The Lion capital comes from a column at Sarnath in Uttar Pradesh, built by Ashoka, the Mauryan king who flourished in the third century BC. According to tradition, the pillars were raised at various points on the route of a pilgrimage that he undertook in the twentieth y...

India has one of the greatest intellectual traditions in the world and it has nothing to do with modern Indian leftist scholars and writers.

The Fortress of Pratapgad was completed in 1656 under the orders of the Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji. The construction of the hilltop stronghold turned out to be an inspired piece of strategy, as just three years later it played a pivotal role in the Battle of Pratapgad, a turning point for the fledgling Maratha.

By the late 1960s, the most famous writer in America had become a recluse, having forsaken his dazzling career. Nevertheless, J.D. Salinger often came to Manhattan, staying at his parents' sprawling apartment on Park Avenue and 91st Street. While he no longer visited with his editors at "The New Yorker," he was keen to spend time with his spiritual teacher, Swami Nikhilananda, the founder of the Ramakrishna - Vivekananda Center, located, then as now, in a townhouse just three blocks away, at 17 East 94th Street.

Functioning as an altar shrine, complete with a lustration basin, this icon depicts the goddess Durga in the act of conquering the demon buffalo Mahisha. Durga crushes the beast with her foot and impales him with her trident, whereupon the demon reveals himself in human form and pleads for mercy. In each of her eight arms, Durga holds a weapon lent to her by the male gods expressly for this task. This shrine, with its distinctive temple towers, evokes the architecture of Himachal Pradesh, as does the lotus-petal nimbus framing the goddess’s head, a motif specific to the imagery of the C...

This photograph of the Prasanna Chennakesava Temple, Somnathpur was taken in the 1890s by an unknown photographer and is from the Curzon Collection's 'Souvenir of Mysore Album'. The Keshava Temple at Somnathpur near Mysore, completed in 1268, is one of the best-preserved temples built in the Hoysala period. Dedicated to Keshava, the god Vishnu under his three aspects, it consists of three shrines approached through a pillared mandapa. On the outer walls of the temple, at the lower levels, there are friezes with elephants, horses, makaras (mythical sea creatures), geese, and foliated scrol...

She was a Lingayat, a devotee of Mahadev. She belonged to a merchant family from Kundapur, Karnataka. She was beautiful, pious, and virtuous. With a pearl-like complexion, broad forehead, curly hair, and bright eyes, an aura of divinity emanated from her. She was Chennamma.

It was the year 1533 CE. Turbak Khan, the experienced Afghan general of Nasiruddin Nasrat Shah, the Sultan of Bengal, attacked Assam with a huge army.

History-sheeter Shamsher alias Bablu Khan has been accused of murdering his ‘friend’ Shivdatt alias Shiva Bhalerao. He suspected that Shiva was having an affair with Khan’s live-in partner Asha Thakur. The murder took place 8 months ago.