Retailers run the risk of cultural appropriation when they commodify festivals from minority groups without acknowledging the religious context.
A painting of the goddess Kali by Indian artist Raja Ravi Varma. The film Kaali by Leena Manimekalai has drawn controversy for the way it depicts the goddess.
(The Ganesh Shivaswamy Foundation, Bengaluru)
Leena Manimekalai’s film Kaali has drawn controversy and criticism, but like her other films, it highlights the inequalities and discrimination many continue to face.
Abortion rights advocates demonstrate in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in 2021, in Washington, D.C.
AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
Scholars explain why many see abortion access as a religious freedom issue and what the views of different faiths are on ‘ensoulment,’ the point at which the soul is believed to enter the fetus.
Demonstrators stand outside the Supreme Court in 2014.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
Several US universities now recognize caste as part of nondiscrimination policies. Two scholars of South Asian studies explain how caste-based violence isn’t limited to Hinduism, or to India.
The love god Kamadeva prepares to shoot Shiva with a love dart.
British Museum/Wikimedia Commons
Dying in Varanasi is everyday. That’s not to say dying is ordinary. On the contrary, it is a sacred art form, a spiritual passage that is part of the daily practice of living.
There have been few slots available for weddings at register offices since the pandemic.
Jim Steele/Alamy
Many Australians believe in the existence of the soul. Here is a brief guide to how the five major world religions imagine the soul’s origin and journey.
Many Indian Americans will be celebrating the festival of Diwali soon. A scholar of Asian religion explains what this festival of lights means – especially in chaotic times.
Hindu cremation being performed on the banks of the River Ganges in Varanasi, India.
Photo by Tim Graham/Getty Images
Hindu philosophy believes the soul to be immortal. Death is considered to be the end of only physical incarnation, as the soul continues its journey of multiple births until its final liberation.
Prince Charles, accompanied by Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, and French president Emmanuel Macron greet one another with a ‘namaste’ in London on June 18.
Photo by Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images
Goddesses have traditionally protected against sickness and cured the ill, according to Hindu belief. More recently they have been coopted to combat AIDS and traffic deaths.
Krishna the charioteer guiding Arjuna in the battlefield of Kurukshetra.
Godong/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
As the COVID-19 pandemic exposes the risks of an interconnected world, Indian thinkers offer timely insights on how to understand our global community and act more wisely.
Nimai Hajong and his wife, August 2018. Hajong was born in Bangladesh and moved to India when he was an infant. The 58-year-old, now considered a “foreigner” in his own state, poses with paperwork supporting his right to citizenship.
A. Shamar/AFP
Anuradha Sen Mookerjee, Graduate Institute – Institut de hautes études internationales et du développement (IHEID)
On August 31, the final list of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) for the state of Assam, along the India-Bangladesh border will decide upon the future of millions of people in the state.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is garlanded after winning the elections.
AP Photo/Manish Swarup
Modi and the political party he represents are adherents of Hindutva, an ideology. It is fundamentally different from the faith, Hinduism.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses party supporters, standing next to his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah at their headquarters in New Delhi, India, May 23, 2019.
(AP/Manish Swarup)
India’s re-elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered a victory speech that presented himself as a selfless and humble ascetic. This vision goes far to promote a Hindu nationalist ‘new’ India.