Guides
Shatrunjaya pata
Painted on cotton cloths, Shatrunjaya patas map the physical and divine characteristics of the sacred hill in Palitana, Gujarat
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Guides
Maps of devotion – The Jain art of Shatrunjaya pata
Painted on cotton and imbued with piety, Shatrunjaya patas map the physical and divine characteristics of the sacred hill in Palitana, Gujarat
Spotlight
Quiz: How well do you know the ancient caves of India?
In ancient India, cave complexes sheltered travellers and traders too besides priests and monks. Take our quiz to learn about these rock-cut rest-stops
Spotlight
Object of the week: A Frenchman’s view of Princely India
Over six years spent travelling around India, Louis Rousselet learned photography and captured some of the most beautiful scenes of the Subcontinent, from the Himalayas to the Nilgiris and from coast to coast
Spotlight
Object of the week: Jagannath’s Puri temple inspired this art form
Odisha’s Pattachitra paintings are rooted in the culture of the seaside town of Puri and, more specifically, in its legendary Jagannath temple
Spotlight
Pristine views of the Ganga – World Environment Day 2023
The Ganga is one of the largest contributors to plastic pollution in the world’s oceans. But this wasn’t always the case
Spotlight
Indian maps, myths & travel legends
In conversation with professional geographer Dr Manosi Lahiri about the ways in which travellers have helped to draw the map of India
Reads
India, G20 & the repatriation of cultural artefacts
Conversations on the repatriation of museum objects continue to evolve and encounter new complexities
Spotlight
Object of the week: Notes from a solo woman traveller in India
Fanny Parkes’s richly illustrated journals give us a sense of the freedom that the author experienced as a woman traveller in 19th-century India
Reads
Destination India, a reading list
Five books that showcase how the world once saw India
Talks
‘Searching For Ashoka’ by Nayanjot Lahiri
“I found myself going back to the different ways in which Ashoka was remembered and trying to understand how memories of him had been accumulating and eroding like the slabs of rocks on which he had left his words. I then decided to combine this with the fun and feel of his forms in Thailand,… Read more »
Spotlight
Open Roads
For our 36th edition of Sarmaya Spotlight, we bring you the most picturesque destinations, thrilling travel stories and colourful souvenirs from across the Subcontinent
Spotlight
Object of the week: Pilgrims to Nathdwara take these paintings home
Pichwai paintings were born in the temple town of Nathdwara in Rajasthan and centre the 8-year-old deity, Shrinathji
Spotlight
Object of the week: A rare photo of Dal Lake in the 1800s
On the banks of the Dal Lake with a physician-turned-photographer-turned-mountaineer
Spotlight
Summer Holidays: The origin of India’s hill-stations
From the Himalayas to the Nilgiris, the mountain slopes of India are home to hill-stations. Built by the British, these were sanctuaries designed to get them through sickness and long summers
Reads
Mughal Sarais, where caravans & cultures mingled
Along the ancient Silk Road and the historic Grand Trunk Road lay a series of rest-stops and inns called sarais where caravans of travellers, pilgrims and traders could break their journey
Reads
Rabindranath Tagore’s ‘Kabuliwala’ to get a contemporary remake
One of Rabindranath Tagore’s most popular short stories, Kabuliwala, will be told once again in film. In this new remake, Mithun Chakravarthy will reportedly play the titular role of Rehemat, an itinerant merchant from Kabul, Afghanistan, who strikes an unlikely friendship with a 5-year-old girl during his yearly visits to Kolkata. Though it is fiction,… Read more »
Exhibitions
In Kalamkari Country
Art historian Rajarshi Sengupta takes us on a tour of south India’s celebrated Kalamkari textile tradition
Reads
India’s African History – The Siddis of the Deccan
The Siddis are unique among the multicultural communities of the Deccan. Many arrived in India as East African slaves but their lives collided with the volatile politics of the region in ways that would birth new identities
Talks
‘The Tempestuous Life & Times of Rajaraja and the Cholas’ by Kamini Dandapani
“A thousand-and-some years ago, there arose in southern India an empire that was among the most remarkable the world had ever seen. It defied a myriad of obstacles, and yet, through all the struggles and violence, it also cultivated and refined an aesthetic sensibility of breathtaking beauty.” – Kamini Dandapani on her lecture for Sarmaya… Read more »