When a Belgian baron built a ‘Hindu palace’ near Cairo

The suburb of Heliopolis is home to Le Palais Hindou, an Indian temple-style mansion that was built for an industrialist-engineer who built Cairo’s tram system.

Ajay Kamalakaran

· Jan 18, 2022 · 11:30 am

How Bombay deeply moved a Nobel-winning Swedish writer in the 1920s

Author-sailor Harry Martinson wrote a vivid and detailed account of his encounters with the poor in the Indian metropolis.

Ajay Kamalakaran

· Jan 15, 2022 · 11:30 am

How a Dawoodi Bohra from British India became a business icon in East Africa in early 20th century

Alibhai Mulla Jeevanjee emigrated to East Africa in search of a better living. Within years, he became one of the wealthiest merchants in the region.

Ajay Kamalakaran

· Dec 22, 2021 · 11:30 am

One of the oldest surviving historical accounts of India was written by this Korean Buddhist monk

Hyecho arrived in India in 724 CE and travelled extensively, closely observing the culture, customs and geographical features of the country.

Ajay Kamalakaran

· Dec 18, 2021 · 06:30 am

When a small Sikh community thrived in an Iranian border town

Zahedan, which is close to the Pakistani province of Baluchistan, was once a major entry point for Sikhs looking for opportunities in Iran.

Ajay Kamalakaran

· Dec 11, 2021 · 11:30 am

How a Hungarian scholar became the founder of modern Tibetology after reaching India

Two centuries after Alexander Csoma de Kőrös set off on his journey to Asia, his scholarly legacy is still alive and well.

Ajay Kamalakaran

· Dec 04, 2021 · 11:30 am

Pilgrimages, conflicts and naked women: A Russian merchant’s impressions of 15th-century India

Over three years, Afanasy Nikitin travelled from India’s west coast to the Deccan Plateau. His notes gave Russia its first glimpse of life in the country.

Ajay Kamalakaran

· Nov 27, 2021 · 11:30 am

The journey of Pallava script from Tamil Nadu to South East Asia

The scripts of Java, Sumatra, Bali, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia were all derived from the Pallava writing system.

Ajay Kamalakaran

· Oct 26, 2021 · 11:30 am

When Maldives was ruled by Catholic kings living all the way in Goa

If history had taken a different turn in the 16th century, the Maldives may have ended up becoming a part of modern India.

Ajay Kamalakaran

· Oct 16, 2021 · 11:30 am

Mariamman in Saigon: The story of Vietnam’s most famous Hindu temple

Built in the 19th century for Tamil immigrants, the Mariamman temple now counts ethnic Chinese, Khmer and Vietnamese people among its worshippers.

Ajay Kamalakaran

· Oct 05, 2021 · 11:30 am

Remembering SS Dwarka, the ship that carried Indian migrant workers to the Gulf for decades

The white passenger and cargo ship rode the waves of history, witnessing historic events like the Partition, until it was eventually scrapped in 1982.

Ajay Kamalakaran

· Sep 25, 2021 · 11:30 am

Gulf rupee: When the Reserve Bank of India played central banker in West Asia

Even after Indian independence, the rupee was the legal tender in a few Persian Gulf states. It was replaced with the Gulf rupee in 1959 to curb gold smuggling.

Ajay Kamalakaran

· Sep 14, 2021 · 11:30 am