Dhīti is a blog for long form essays, expressions of civilizational voice, cinema and literature review, and more.
Dharma is sanātana, but civilizational emergence follows a worldly trajectory where the technologies we develop shape and form us in turn. Here we look at an ancient technology, the ratha or chariot, and unpack its significance in the Indian civilizational trajectory.
We read here a personal account from Smt. Kate Herse, and find that being born in the United States did not prevent her from learning the Upaniṣads, leading a dhārmika life, and living as a Hindu. Caste played no part at all in her journey. What is required though is adherence to duties and norms of the sampradāya that she has chosen.
There is a reason that as a culture we were more interested in ‘what happens’ than ‘what happened’. ‘What happened’ becomes dated. ‘What happened’ is limited. While ‘what happens’ is timeless and limitless. The great seers of this great land observed the world from a śuddha citta and created analogies capable of reflecting the timeless and divine principles and messages which are still relevant to us. And they did this through poetry, literature and art.
In this essay we engage in emic freethinking, and look at some names from Indian itihāsa in a new light. How many such stories might we find in the Purāṇas, Epics and other texts? And if we did, would we not understand our past better?
The first article in this three part series takes a comprehensive and detailed look at the Aghorī-s, drawing from personal experience and insider’s knowledge of this rare and much misunderstood tradition.
Why do Indians display cultural and historical amnesia regarding their own past? What historical processes have led to the situation where we must constantly feel stunted by a deeply implanted sense of degradation and inferiority?
In the noise that words with wide circulation receive, their representation is often distorted. 'Decolonization' is one such word. Here we share a personal footprint as the writer looks back at his earliest memories, and outlines some essential ramp ways we all can use.