Mainstream Weekly

Keeladi, Tamil Pride and India | M.R. Narayan Swamy

M R Narayan Swamy — 2026-07-14T18:15:14Z

Keeladi! Rarely has any archaeological find generated as much emotion as Keeladi did since the discovery, during the British Raj, of the civilizational ruins at Harappa, now in Pakistan.
Historians had always believed that large-scale urban life in India first emerged in the north, in the greater Magadha region of the Gangetic basin, from around 600 BCE. South India, by contrast, was thought to have urbanized much later, only around 300 BCE.
The discovery of Keeladi shattered all that, (…)

- 2026

Prabhakaran's militarist strategy led to doom, says revealing book | M.R. Narayan Swamy

M R Narayan Swamy — 2026-07-14T18:11:10Z

The seeds for a miserable end to Velupillai Prabhakaran's Tamil Eelam dream were laid by the man himself — a long, long, long time ago.
This is the conclusion one draws after reading a brutally honest and at times painful sketch of the early years of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) by one of Prabhakaran's earliest associates, Ganeshan Iyer.
The Tamil work, Porattahil Enadhu Pathivugal, was first published abroad in 2011, two years after Prabhakaran was slain. It was (…)

- 2026 / Book Review

Saudi Arabia

M R Narayan Swamy — 2026-05-12T16:32:00Z

[fond noir][blanc]BOOK REVIEWblanc]fond noir]
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Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran and the Rivalry that Unravelled the Middle East;
by Kim Ghattas
Wildfire/Headline Publishing Group
Pages: xvii + 378; Price: Rs. 799
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It is mind-boggling to even know how much death, destruction and human suffering Saudi Arabia has rained on the larger Islamic world with an insular religious ideology that has torn apart even the believers.
In a seminal study of the perennially turbulent (…)

- 2026

When Tauseef Appreciated Hindu temple and Ganges | M.R. Narayan Swamy

M R Narayan Swamy — 2026-04-22T08:54:00Z

My colleague Tauseef (assumed name) knew I prayed at temples daily without fail. Bright and inquisitive, he asked me to take him along to a temple as he desired to know how Hindus worship and what went on in Hindu shrines.
He did have a doubt: Will anyone object to his coming since he is a Muslim?
No, I replied confidently. Most Hindu temples do not bar non-Hindus from entering. In any case, I reasoned, everyone is equal in the eyes of God.
I took Tauseef to one of the oldest south (…)

- 2026

A Reality Check on Operation Sindoor |

M R Narayan Swamy — 2026-03-19T03:27:14Z

[fond noir][blanc]BOOK REVIEWblanc]fond noir]

- 2026 / Book Review

Pakistan

M R Narayan Swamy — 2026-03-19T03:26:56Z

[fond noir][blanc]BOOK REVIEWblanc]fond noir]
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Farewell Kabul: From Afghanistan To A More Dangerous World
by Christina Lamb
William Collins
2015
640 pages
ISBN-10 : 0007256922
ISBN-13 : 978-0007256921
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At a time when Donald Trump appears to have fallen in love with Pakistan

- 2026

JVP disowns earlier ideological anathema for India | M.R. Narayan Swamy

M R Narayan Swamy — 2026-03-07T23:21:39Z

A top leader of Sri Lanka

- 2026

Ordinary Indians Lead in Regular Charity | M.R. Narayan Swamy

M R Narayan Swamy — 2026-03-01T15:06:19Z

Whenever I visit the Birla Ghat in Haridwar, I see a regular flow of pious men and women giving small sums of money to the ghat

- 2026

An Inside View of Why Sri Lanka

M R Narayan Swamy — 2026-01-24T06:26:02Z

Sri Lanka

- 2026

Pakistan

M R Narayan Swamy — 2026-01-24T06:19:47Z

[fond noir][blanc]BOOK REVIEWblanc]fond noir]
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Perfect Storm: The History and Anatomy of 26/11
by Prabhakar Aloka and Nikhil Ravi
Ebury Press/Penguin Random House
Pages: xxxi + 220; Price: Rs 499
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If former Intelligence Bureau officer Prabhakar Aloka is to be believed, Pakistan

- 2026 / Book Review