Ancient Indian Materialism

Dipak Nandy (This essay first appeared in Marxism Today in its January 1962 issue) The Vice-President of India, Mr. Radhakrishnan, recently stated that "the characteristic of Indian thought is that it has paid greater attention to the inner world of man than to the outer world". Indeed, the course of Indian thought, as told in the standard accounts, might well be described as "Variations on an Idealistic Theme". Was there then no tradition of materialist thought in ancient India? The question...

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Women's Day Musings

Narendra Nayak When I was asked by the lady of the house(not to say that of my life too!) to go and speak to  students, in her place  about women's rights on the 6th March, it was partly my responsibility to do so! When the NSS officer of a college had telephoned the previous evening, I had received the call to inform the officer that my better half had a sore throat and would call back the next day. However, when there was no improvement in her voice even the next day, I asked her...

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8th FIRA National Conferance - A Report

V Kumaresan VIII National Conference of Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations (FIRA) was held at Nagpur, Maharashtra on 11th  and 12th  February 2012. FIRA constitutes 83 Rationalist Associations from different states of the country.  The  Conference was held at Hindi Bhawan Ram Gopal Maheswari Subagraha, Rani Jhansi Square, Sitabuldi, Nagpur. The Conference was hosted by Akhil Bharatiya Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samithi (ABANS), an affiliate of FIRA along with the Association...

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Standing on Two Swords without the Feet Getting Cut

B Premanand (Warning: Some of the tricks detailed in this series "Science Versus Miracles" should be performed only under the guidance of experts/professional magicians) Experiment: 30 Effect: Standing on two swords without the feet getting cut. Props: Two swords of the same size, one stool and some fruits or vegetables. Method: The sharpness of the two swords is demonstrated by cutting some fruits or vegetables. Then two swords are held horizontally by two strong volunteers,...

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