Mother Goddess – Indus Valley

“Archeological evidence from related cultures suggests that Indus Valley mythology was centered in the idea of female power and Goddess cults…” Full entry here…

Not again –

Sometime back I had written a piece on the Kafkaesque nature of our history. The recent events though not altogether unexpected nor peculiar reminded…

Guennol Lioness from ancient Mesopotamia

The piece above has been described as “one of the oldest, rarest and most beautiful works of art from the ancient world.” Described by…

The Post Office, Murree – an old image

General Post Office sits at the top of the commercial Murree Mall. The Post Office in Murree provided mail services to the British troops…

Miniature painting – the global traumas narrated by Saira Wasim

Saira Wasim is a prominent Pakistani miniaturist. I found a link to her website hidden in my unread emails. Some of her recent paintings…

It is the death of history…

Fisk on the long term impact of Iraq tragedy: 2,000-year-old Sumerian cities torn apart and plundered by robbers. The very walls of the mighty…

Welcome Hatshepsut

Amazing how the past continues to interact with the present. Hatshepsut was an ancient Egyptian queen who declared herself as the king and ruled…

Dalrymple on gods and monsters

In an era when most British officials were interested only in exploiting India, a few remarkable men celebrated Hindu art and culture. William Dalrymple…

Islamic Spain: History’s refrain

Alexander Kronemer writes: “At its peak, it lit the Dark Ages with science and philosophy, poetry, art, and architecture. It was the period remembered…

Becoming Pakistani

A fine piece of writing at Opendemocracy: As a small child, Maruf Khwajas life was transformed by the carving of his mother country into…

Breaking the taboo – ancient manuscripts come to light

Shahzada Irfan has written this piece on the discovery of a hidden treasure at the Punjab University. Ancient Sanskrit manuscripts have finally come under…

‘Gandhi, My Father’ – humanising heroes

It is an interesting coincidence that the new Bollywood film, Gandhi – My Father has been released days before the subcontinent celebrates sixty years…

Dhaka by degrees

How poor are they who have not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degrees. -William Shakespeare I grew up in the post-East…

These strange times

Found lovely photo from taken near the Hiran Minar built by Emperor Jahangir. This monument was built by the Mughal Emperor in the memory of Mansraj, his favourite antelope.…

Indus Valley Civilisation – another discovery

There is more to the Indus valley civilization than we think. “The discovery of rare objects during an excavation expedition in Cholistan desert by…

The Clay Bird

A moving tale of a young boy and his family trapped in the circumstances of rural Bangladesh and the turmoil of late 1960s. I…

Story of a Painting – Mehrgarh, Indus and Ghalib

Mehrgarh excavations continue despite all odds; and there is much more hidden under the rugged, topograhic layers of Baluchistan. Saw this figurine (on the…

Mughal Princess Zebunnissa – Lady of the age

Mughal history ignores women of the empire, including Emperor Aurangzeb’s daughter Zeb-un-Nissa: patron of the arts, poet, and a keeper of several lovers –…

Muhammad’s Sword

Good old Uri is back with a great piece. Thank God it wasn’t written by another fundamentalist islamofascist….. Since the days when Roman Emperors…

Architectural Neglect – Lahore again..

Random musings in continuation of the discussions on the construction of the 7 (or is it 5?) -star hotel in Islamabad on Adil Najam’s…