What the story of Medini Rai, the man who once took on Babur, tells us about biography and history

The complex life stories of men like him illuminate historical processes in ways that are missed by conventional accounts focused on the so-called big picture.

Aparna Kapadia

· Nov 18, 2019 · 06:30 am

On Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary, a reminder of the deep roots of the right to protest in India

Kathiawad had a long tradition of resistance, reminding us that the leader’s strategy of non-violent struggle was not quite the aberration it is imagined to be.

Aparna Kapadia

· Oct 02, 2019 · 08:45 am

Why a 15th-century manuscript of Indian recipes lists eight kinds of samosas – none with potatoes

The subcontinent’s long history of global ties is hidden in the plain sight in our kitchens.

Aparna Kapadia

· Sep 09, 2019 · 07:30 am

Chintz, calico, pyjamas: How India’s Indian Ocean textile trade rose in the east and set in the west

Craftsmen and traders from the subcontinent influenced global tastes in fabrics for centuries.

Aparna Kapadia

· Aug 05, 2019 · 12:30 pm

What a 2,000-year-old Greek merchant’s manual tells us about the Indian monsoon and oceanic trade

The ‘Periplus of the Erythraean Sea’ shows how India has been part of an interconnected global network for millennia.

Aparna Kapadia

· Jul 08, 2019 · 06:30 am

Gujarat’s medieval cities were once the biggest in the world – as a viral video reminds us

Today, their significance has been largely forgotten outside the small world of professional historians.

Aparna Kapadia

· Mar 30, 2019 · 08:00 am

Embroidered into Meghan Markle’s veil was Britain’s bid to celebrate its bloody colonial history

The bride’s dress is being praised for its floral motifs of the 53 Commonwealth countries. But colonialism destroyed the lives of India’s weavers.

Aparna Kapadia

· May 20, 2018 · 12:01 pm