Heritage News - Frontline

Gandhi used Tolstoy’s letter to understand the political predicament of his time.

A letter to Tolstoy and Gandhi

How the Russian writer’s critique of colonialism influenced Gandhi’s philosophy and foresaw the pitfalls of pseudo-religion and scientific rationality

Manash Firaq Bhattacharjee

W.E.B. Du Bois’ enduring interest in Gandhi’s movement stems from their shared recognition that nonviolence’s radical potential lies in truth-based reconciliation

Kindred spirits across oceans: Gandhi and Du Bois’ transcontinental dialogue

How the two luminaries of civil rights forged an unlikely alliance, reshaping the discourse on race and nonviolence.

Manash Firaq Bhattacharjee

If only the haveli walls could talk

In Vernacular Architecture of India, Tejinder S. Randhawa documents India’s architectural heritage, opening the windows into a storied past.

I often compare Indian history with Game of Thrones: Ira Mukhoty

In her latest book The Lion and the Lily, the historian and author offers a fresh perspective on the Nawabs of Awadh in the 18th century.

Frontline News Desk

The 17th century limestone slab in the walls of Jamia Masjid in Srinagar. At the bottom, a small engraving reads, “the work of Hari Ram”.

Old stones, new tales: How inscriptions rewrite Kashmir’s religious history

A new study has revealed narratives of syncretism that counter the politically motivated and polarised versions of the Valley’s history.

Owners’ pride: Kolkata’s Trincas

How a century-old Park Street icon became the city’s unlikely LGBTQIA+ haven.

FRONTLINE PERSPECTIVES

Together we sing

Welcome to Muharram in Karnataka where an entire community sets aside their differences to celebrate as one.

Frontline News Desk

More stories from Heritage

Members of ARPO documenting the traditional songs of Jenu Kuruba Tribal musicians as part of their efforts to provide the tribal people with a livelihood.

ARPO: Chronicling Kerala’s past for its future

How a small collective of volunteers carves a unique niche in preserving the State’s vanishing heritage.

Saatvika Radhakrishna,Kavya Pradeep

The Gandhi Ashram in Khoraitha, Bihar, was founded in 1920 as a shelter for freedom fighters.

Bihar’s forgotten Gandhi Ashram cries for help

Once frequented by Mahatma Gandhi and Subhash Chandra Bose, the Ashram in Khoraitha village is overgrown with shrubs and its walls are dilapidated.

Bandara Manatunga holding the Patra at Rajgir. His diary chronicles his month-and-half-long experience in India as a “temporary monk”.

Monk’s 1956 diary illuminates post-Independence Indian Buddhism

Bandara Manatunga’s account of “temporary monkhood” offers rare insights into Buddhist practices during a transformative period for the religion.

Suhrid Sankar Chattopadhyay

Side view of the sculpture titled “Rhythm” at National Museum, New Delhi. The Central government plans to create a new national museum, replacing the existing one.

Will the plans for a new National Museum put priceless artefacts at risk?

Despite the Centre’s reassurance that the collection will stay in the present premises for the time being, the project remains shrouded in mystery.

Panoramic view of the Ram ki Paidi ghats on the banks of the Sarayu river in Ayodhya. The ghats have been upgraded since 2020 as part of Ayodhya’s ongoing beautification scheme.

Frontline On Air | Whose Ayodhya?

The city’s cultural heritage, encompassing Muslim, Buddhist, Jain, and Hindu influences, is being overshadowed by the construction of the Ram Mandir.

Whose Ayodhya?

Panoramic view of the Ram ki Paidi ghats on the banks of the Sarayu river in Ayodhya. The ghats have been upgraded since 2020 as part of Ayodhya’s ongoing beautification scheme.

Whose Ayodhya?

The city’s cultural heritage, encompassing Muslim, Buddhist, Jain, and Hindu influences, is being overshadowed by the construction of the Ram Mandir.

At a bell metal production unit, called gorsal or sal, in Sarthebari. Here, bell metal scrap is being heated in a glass-shaped cast iron vessel (muhi) inside a heat chamber. The liquid metal is then shaped into small discs (gola) in a clay bowl (aak).

The bells of Sarthebari

The death knell might be sounding for Assam’s bell metal industry, which urgently needs a helping hand to ring new life into it.

Installation view of “Tree and Serpent: Early Buddhist Art in India, 200 BCE–400 CE”.

Exhibition at Metropolitan Museum of Art showcases the impact of Buddhist art on southern India

Tree & Serpent, an ongoing exhibition at the New York museum, tells the story of how Buddhist art transformed the early landscape of South India.

Shreevatsa Nevatia

The Osmania General Hospital on the banks of the Musi river in Hyderabad.

Why Telangana government wants to pull down Osmania General Hospital

The move has sparked a fierce debate between heritage conservationists and advocates for improved healthcare infrastructure.

In 1994, Azerbaijan issued postage stamps commemorating the 115th Anniversary of the founding of the Nobel Brothers Petroleum Company.

From Nobel Brothers to Rockefeller, a philatelic history of oil barons

How postage stamps unveil a captivating narrative of oil magnates who shaped industries, economies, and legacies across the globe.

Victoria Mansion and many other colonial-era landmarks can be hard to spot in modern-day Karachi.

Pakistan: What’s left of Jewish architecture in Karachi?

A big part of this past is Karachi’s Jewish community. But preserving traces of this culture seems to be a losing battle in the mostly Muslim city.

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