Culture

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has gifted German Chancellor Angela Merkel an exquisite handloom woollen khadi stole from Ladakh and a Ratnam pen. The stole, known as “Call of Ladakh”, has an intricate traditional Ladakhi border pattern and four corner motifs, in dark wool. The yarn is hand-spun using the finest …

Almost 500 years after saint-reformer Srimanta Sankardeva experimented with the literary language of Brajavali, Assam’s Bhaona has now reached foreign shores in an English avatar. Entertainment played a major role in the neo-Vaishnavite movement that Sankardeva started in Assam. He wrote his prose in Sanskrit but used Assamese and Brajavali …

Govt. converts house into Gandhi Bhawan Museum Hyderi Manzil, a single storied house in north Kolkata where Mahatma Gandhi spent August 15, 1947 and a site that has emerged as a symbol of his fight against communalism was on Wednesday thrown open to the public as a full-fledged museum, depicting …

Practice session for the boat race season in full swing at Kumarakom The people of Kumarakom these days are waking up to the pulsating shouts of mighty oarsmen propelling in unison and blazing past the canals here. The village has turned into the practice venue for the snakeboats from Kottayam …

While the Thiruppavai has many commentaries, it itself may be considered a commentary on the Vedas, said Malola Kannan, in a discourse. Every pasuram in Thiruppavai reflects the Vedas in one way or the other. Taking the Azhi mazhai kanna pasuram as an example, one can see how it is …

Set on the streets of Mumbai, Bombay Rose moves from real life to fantasy, accompanied by much-loved Bollywood songs Gitanjali Rao’s Bombay Rose will be the first Indian animation film ever to open the Venice International Film Critics’ Week this year. A Cinestaan Film Company production, the hand-painted animation film …

Every week, volunteers collect information from theatres that play movies with subtitles and share the list with fans of cinema through Twitter Four Mumbaikars have come together on Twitter to start Mumbai Subtitles Database. On their Twitter handle, they draw up a list of theatres screening regional movies with subtitles …

Looted ancient artefacts from Iraq and Afghanistan seized in Britain will be returned to their country of origin after appraisal by the British Museum, the institution said on Monday. Among the artefacts to be sent back to Afghanistan are Gandharan sculptures illegally exported to Britain in 2002. Another important haul …

Researchers claim to have found Ziklag, where ‘David took refuge from king Saul’ Researchers in Israel said on Monday they have pinpointed the site of an ancient Philistine town mentioned in the biblical tale of David seeking refuge from the Israelite king Saul. Ziklag was then under the rule of …

Four films on Indian communities are showing at the ongoing International Indigenous Film Festival of Kuching, Malaysia Niranjan Kujur’s Dibi Durga is a unique short film about a day in the life of an indigenous woman. In its duration of a mere six minutes, it manages to encapsulate the sheer …