Hanging of Conscience: Case of Afzal Guru

Ram Puniyani The semi secretive hanging of Afzal Guru (Feb 2013) has come as a shock to some and as a feeling of triumphalism for many. Afzal Guru was hanged in early hours of morning and was buried in the prison yard. His mercy petition, which was pending with the President for long was finally rejected and even before the family of Afzal Guru could get a chance to appeal against the turning down of plea for clemency, Guru was hanged. While the ethical questions pertaining to death penalty...

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D. D. Kosambi’s Views on the Six Heretics and the Buddha: A Critique

Ramkrishna Bhattacharya Both D. D. Kosambi (1907-66) and Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya (1918-93), two leading Marxist thinkers in India, discussed at length the teachings of the six heretics and of the Buddha during the sixth/fifth century BCE in their seminal works, An Introduction to the Study of Indian History (1956) and Lokāyata (1959) respectively. It will be interesting to compare and contrast their views and observe how, in spite of their basic similarity of approach, they arrived at almost...

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Science versus Miracles: Cooking Rice in Cold Water

B Premanand The tantrik claims that through his mental power he can cook rice in cold water. He fills rice in a vessel, pours water, places the lid over it and chants incantations. When he removes the lid, the rice is cooked and apparently steaming hot. Experiment: 95 Effect:  Cooking rice in cold water. Props: Aluminum vessel with lid, rice, quick lime from the kiln, and water. Method: Mix beforehand 1:1 of rice and the lime. Show the rice to test whether it is raw or cooked....

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Adi Shankara and Indian Materialist Philosophy (Materialism in Indian Philosophy – Part IV)

MN Roy The dynamic view of nature attained a high degree of clarity with the Jains. The dialectic logic developed by the Jain philosophers was later on condemned by Sankaracharya as “an unsettling style of reasoning”. It was, indeed, unsettling for the rigid orthodox logic which set up an imaginary absolute standard. Once the abso­luteness of the standard of truth is disputed, the whole airy structure of doctrines and dogmas, reared upon that foundation, necessarily collapses. The Jain philosophers...

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"Begone Godmen" - An Interview with Premanand

Shinie Antony The down town North railway station yawns with studied boredom. The pearls-and-pumps travelers delicately dodge the poor-and-perspiring passengers. All are scurrying by; catching, leaving, or meeting trains that chug in and out of the Station with routine indifference. But when a certain man walks - no, strides into the platform, all eyes follow him. His beard is white and flowing, his voice, as he spots and greets me, is the confident kind, and he's able to scale curious stares...

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