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✍️ Written by Saket Suman A democracy begins to collapse quietly when memory is treated as contraband and testimony is made conditional on permission. The most telling sites of this erosion is the uneasy space occupied by books that are written, circulated and discussed but not allowed to formally exist. Home Minister Amit Shah visiting World Book Fair in New Delhi; Via HM Across political systems, unpublished or “under review” manuscripts are often framed as incomplete, unauthorised, or unsafe for public consumption. The argument is procedural on the surface because nothing exists until it is cleared, stamped and released. But this framing misses the deeper truth.  A manuscript does not become real because a seal is affixed to it. It becomes real because it is written, because someone who witnessed events chose to place memory into language. Clearance can regulate circulation but it cannot annul authorship. Excerpts from such works enter the p...

There has been a visible impact of IndianRepublic.in ’s reporting . More than two days after this publication documented a serious marketplace misrepresentation, Amazon India has now removed the misattributed reviews and ratings from the Kindle listing of The Sage Who Reimagined Hinduism: The Life, Lessons, & Legacy of Sree Narayana Guru by Shashi Tharoor .  But the correction is incomplete and the silence surrounding it is louder than ever. ; Representational Meme Source: MJ__Speaks on X As of this writing, the Kindle product page for Tharoor’s book (ASIN: B0G6Z7858F) continues to display the biographical description of another author, Amitava Kumar , under product description. This is a misleading artefact that remains live despite the removal of the reviews. The result is a listing that no longer carries borrowed ratings but still presents incorrect author information to readers under product description . Tharoor’s Kindle edition now has zero ratings and zero reviews. But...

More than sixty hours after IndianRepublic.in exclusively documented a serious marketplace misrepresentation involving Shashi Tharoor’s latest book , The Sage Who Reimagined Hinduism: The Life, Lessons, & Legacy of Sree Narayana Guru , the listing remains live, uncorrected, and consequential. This is in brazen defiance of the law and utter disregard for transparency and fair play by entities concerned. Representational Meme Source: Edgar Again Poeha on X During this period, the Kindle edition of Tharoor’s book has continued to gain measurable traction despite having received no original ratings of its own . Instead, it has benefited from reviews and star ratings written for an entirely different book: Amitava Kumar’s The Social Life of Indian Trains . Those reviews, which reflect reader responses to Kumar’s earlier work, remain algorithmically attached to Tharoor’s Kindle listing. The misattribution has operated to Tharoor’s clear commercial and reputational advantage, even as ne...

✍️ Written by Saket Suman When Shashi Tharoor announced on social media that his new book, The Sage Who Reimagined Hinduism: The Life, Lessons, & Legacy of Sree Narayana Guru , had been released by the Vice President of India, C.P. Radhakrishnan, the message carried the full institutional gravitas of a nationally endorsed publication. Released on December 30, 2025 at Sivagiri Mutt in Varkala, in the presence of the Governor of Kerala and senior religious and political leaders, the book was framed by Tharoor as a serious intellectual engagement with Sree Narayana Guru’s legacy and the Kerala Renaissance. It is precisely because of this stature, visibility, and public legitimacy that a parallel development on Amazon India demands thorough scrutiny: a flawed and misleading product listing that algorithmically links Tharoor’s book to reviews, ratings, and metadata belonging to a different author altogether, and raises troubling questions about co...

India will open a landmark international exposition titled "The Light and the Lotus: Relics of the Awakened One" on January 3, 2026, showcasing the sacred Piprahwa relics of the Buddh, recently repatriated after 127 years.  The exhibition, to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Rai Pithora Cultural Complex in New Delhi, represents the culmination of decades-long archaeological scholarship, diplomatic effort, and global Buddhist engagement. Glimpses from the Grand International Exposition of Sacred Piprahwa Relics in Delhi. Via: PM NaMo The Piprahwa relics, originally unearthed in 1898 by British colonial officer William Claxton Peppé in what is today Siddharthnagar district of Uttar Pradesh, are widely regarded by archaeologists and epigraphists as the earliest physical remains of Siddhartha Gautama, the historical Buddha.  Buried deep within a stupa near Kapilavastu, the ancient capital of the Buddha’s Shakya clan, the relics consist of bone fragments, gem...

✍️ Written by Saket Suman At the Colorado edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) in the United States, a well-dressed panel sat beneath stage lights, bathed in the glow of literary performance. The session’s title, projected grandly behind them, read:  “Water, Water Everywhere, But Not a Drop to Drink.” Wrong . JLF: PhD in Fakery. Via Sanjoy Roy on X That’s not what Coleridge wrote. The original line, from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner , is:  “Water, water, everywhere,  Nor any drop to drink.” It’s nor , not not . This is a classic metaphor for what JLF has become: a festival of posturing without precision, of quotation without comprehension. It’s a stage where the most revered lines in English literature are mangled in broad daylight -- and no one even notices. Or worse, no one cares . Because for the gatekeepers of this literary cartel, literature is merely a prop . A backdrop against which their curated elit...

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India is launching a civilisational push to protect its traditional knowledge from international piracy, as he inaugurated the Gyan Bharatam Portal at the International Conference on Gyan Bharatam in New Delhi today.  Indian PM Modi at Gyan Bharatam Portal launch. Calling the initiative a “strategic safeguard,” he said the digitisation of India’s one crore manuscripts will act as a barrier against foreign patents and intellectual theft. Digitised Manuscripts का अध्ययन करने के लिए हमें AI जैसी नई टेक्नोलॉजी का उपयोग भी बढ़ाना होगा। इस दिशा में अपने युवा साथियों से मेरा यह विशेष आग्रह… pic.twitter.com/St1A911siK — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 12, 2025 Modi said that for too long, elements of India’s ancient knowledge systems--from medicine to metallurgy--have been quietly patented by external actors. The Gyan Bharatam Mission aims to reverse this trend by creating a verified, publicly accessible digital archive of India’s ma...

Sisters will tie silken threads around their brothers’ wrists in homes across India today. This is a simple ritual that has outlasted empires, migrations, and the clockwork march of modernity. In the hinterlands, in crowded chawls of Mumbai, and in the wide suburban kitchens of the Indian diaspora, the same scenes will play out: a rakhi, some no more than a humble braid of cotton, others glittering with beads will be tied with hands that once pulled a sibling’s hair, wiped his tears, or shared a stolen sweet. Representational Image Source: Ajaz Ganderbali on X Raksha Bandhan, celebrated on the full moon of the Hindu month of Shravana, Purnima, carries the literal meaning “the bond of protection.” But the tie it commemorates is less a promise of chivalry and more a compact of mutual care. It is an old idea, so old that its historical record blurs into legend. In the great Indian epic of Mahabharata, Draupadi ties a strip of cloth around Krishna’s bleeding finger; in return, he vows to p...

India is set to reinforce its commitment to global cultural cooperation as it prepares to participate in the upcoming BRICS Culture Ministers’ Meeting , scheduled for May 26, 2025 , in Brasília, Brazil . The Indian delegation will be led by Union Minister for Culture and Tourism, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat , who will represent New Delhi at this high-level multilateral gathering. Image Source: GSS on X The meeting comes at a strategically important time for India, which is actively deepening its diplomatic engagements through initiatives such as Operation Sindoor —a 33-capital outreach focusing on counterterror diplomacy—and recent bilateral cultural exchanges with nations including Germany , South Korea , and Congo . The BRICS forum—comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa —offers India a platform to shape global cultural narratives while advancing people-to-people ties. This year’s meeting will focus on strengthening multilateral cultural cooperation, enhancing instit...

The Indian Navy on Tuesday formally inducted the Ancient Stitched Ship as INSV Kaundinya at a ceremonial event held at Naval Base Karwar , reviving centuries-old shipbuilding techniques and reinforcing India’s maritime heritage. The induction was presided over by Union Minister of Culture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat , who attended as Chief Guest. Image Source: PIB India The vessel, a full-scale stitched sail ship inspired by 5th-century CE Ajanta Cave paintings , represents a rare fusion of traditional craftsmanship and naval engineering. The project was conceived as a cultural and technological tribute to India’s ancient seafaring history and was undertaken through a tripartite agreement signed in July 2023 between the Ministry of Culture , the Indian Navy , and M/s Hodi Innovations , with funding provided by the Ministry. The key peg of the event was India’s effort to bridge historical maritime traditions with contemporary naval practice , embodied in the design and construction of...

Karwar, May 20 — The Indian Navy will formally induct the Ancient Stitched Ship , a recreation of a 5th century CE vessel inspired by a painting from the Ajanta Caves, during a ceremonial event on May 21, 2025, at Naval Base Karwar. The ceremony will be presided over by the Minister of Culture, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, who will serve as the Chief Guest. The stitched ship project was launched through a tripartite agreement signed in July 2023 between the Ministry of Culture, the Indian Navy, and Goa-based M/s Hodi Innovations, with funding from the Ministry of Culture. The vessel’s keel was laid on September 12, 2023, and it was launched in February 2025 at the Hodi Shipyard in Goa. The ship has been constructed entirely using traditional techniques by artisans from Kerala, led by master shipwright Shri Babu Sankaran. Thousands of joints were hand-stitched using coir and natural materials, with no use of metal fasteners — a practice rooted in ancient Indian shipbuilding traditions. ...