On Scroll Ideas, we’ll take an idea, chew it up, break it down and explore it from every angle possible. It could be anything: politics, history, finance, art, food, drink. It’s a break from India’s crazy TV channels which are now less information and more WWE. Scroll Ideas is a safe space for nerds who’d like to sink their teeth into topics of public importance.
On this episode of Scroll Ideas, we talk to author and historian Anirudh Kanisetti.
Kanisetti’s new book Lords of the Deccan is a fascinating look at the history of early medieval South India. He charts the rise of the Chalukyas, the South’s first empire and ends with the incredible powerhouse that the Cholas from Tamilakam were.
In this discussion, Shoaib and Anirudh discuss why elephants were weapons of mass destruction in medieval Deccani warfare, what happened to the Jains of South India and why India’s incredible diversity in history is ignored for a one-size-fits all, Delhi-centric approach.