Art & Culture
Heritage, archaeology, literature and cultural institutions
Explained: Ambedkar’s Mahad Satyagraha, how it became a ‘watershed moment of Dalit assertion’
The Mahad Satyagraha, led by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar on March 20, 1927, marks its 99th anniversary — a landmark event now widely recognised as the foundational act...
Masi Magam: an auspicious day for Irular community to reconnect with their roots on Mamallapuram seashores
Thousands of Irular tribal community members gathered on the seashores of Mamallapuram (Mahabalipuram) in Tamil Nadu to celebrate Masi Magam — their most imp...
Panini’s Ashtadhyayi: Solution to a 2,500-year-old problem now out as a book
A book titled *Panini's Perfect Rule: A Modern Solution to an Ancient Problem in Sanskrit Grammar* by Rishi Rajpopat has been published, documenting a soluti...
India, Indonesia come together to preserve shared heritage with restoration of 9th-century temple
India and Indonesia have joined forces to undertake the restoration of the Prambanan Temple complex, a 9th-century Hindu temple compound in the Special Regio...
High honour, deep divide: When Tamil poet Vairamuthu won the Jnanpith Award
Tamil poet and lyricist R. Vairamuthu was conferred the 60th Jnanpith Award (for the year 2025), India's highest literary honour. Vairamuthu becomes only the...
No Eid celebrations for Shias in MP in the wake of Khamenei's death in the Iran-Iraq War
Around 4,000 Shia Muslim families in Madhya Pradesh — spread across Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, and Burhanpur — chose not to celebrate Eid al-Fitr 2026 in the ...
Shah, Bengal LoP Suvendu wish Matua community on Harichand Thakur’s 215th birth anniversary
Union Home Minister Amit Shah and West Bengal Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari extended greetings to the Matua community on the 215th birth anniversary ...
In a first, India to map its manuscript heritage from today
On 16 March 2026, the Ministry of Culture launched the Gyan Bharatam National Manuscript Survey — India's first systematic nationwide effort to geo-tag and i...
PM Unity Malls to promote U.P.’s ODOP and GI-tagged products
The Uttar Pradesh government is constructing PM Unity Malls in Agra, Varanasi, and Lucknow to provide permanent retail and display platforms for One District...
China passes new ethnic minority law, prioritise use of Mandarin language
China's National People's Congress (NPC) passed a new law titled "Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress" on March 12, 2026, at its closing session, with 2,756 ...
'Non-Sanatanis' barred from Badrinath and Kedarnath temples
The Badrinath Kedarnath Temple Committee (BKTC) passed a resolution on March 10, 2026, at its budget meeting in Dehradun, prohibiting entry of non-Hindus (te...
Non-Sanatanis may not enter Badrinath, Kedarnath temples: Badri-Kedar Temple Committee
The Badrinath Kedarnath Temple Committee (BKTC) formally passed a resolution on March 10, 2026, to restrict entry of "non-Sanatanis" into 47 temples under it...
Panel estimates Lakkundi treasure to be at least 500 years old
An expert panel has estimated that gold ornaments unearthed at Lakkundi in Gadag district, Karnataka, are at least 500 years old — placing them in the Vijaya...
BKTC proposes ban on ‘non-Sanatanis’ at Badrinath, Kedarnath
The Badrinath-Kedarnath Temple Committee (BKTC) formally approved a resolution on March 10, 2026, banning entry of "non-Sanatanis" (non-Hindus) into 47 shrin...
Ancient hub of religious activity unearthed in Rajasthan: Excavations reveal 1,000-year-old idols, architectural secrets
An excavation in Bahaj village, Deeg district, Rajasthan has unearthed a major ancient hub of religious activity with artefacts spanning multiple historical ...
Centuries before the Inca, parrots were transported from the Amazon across the Andes to coastal Peru: Study
A study published in Nature Communications (2026) by researchers from Australian National University (ANU) and other institutions reveals that Amazonian parr...
Explained: The Jhumka, Ralph Lauren, and the dangling question of patenting heritage craft
At Paris Fashion Week (Fall 2026 collection), a prominent American fashion house showcased large silver bell-shaped earrings described as "authentic vintage ...
Iran war casts shadow on Valley’s famed handicraft industry
The ongoing West Asia conflict has severely disrupted Kashmir's handicraft export sector, which depends heavily on Gulf countries that account for approximat...
In Karnataka’s Amogasidda Temple dispute, how SC decided who would conduct puja rituals
On February 25, 2026, a Supreme Court bench of Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice K. Vinod Chandran dismissed appeals in a 100-year-old dispute over h...
Oxford museum set to return 500-year-old bronze statue taken from Tamil Nadu temple
The Ashmolean Museum at the University of Oxford has agreed to return a 16th-century bronze idol of Saint Thirumankai Alvar to India, originally from the Shr...