A regular among India’s literati, the novelist and commentator Manu Joseph thrives on elite access, simultaneously courting and critiquing the liberal circles whose attention he commands.

19 hours ago

How Manu Joseph’s ‘Why the Poor Don’t Kill Us’ falls short in diagnosing the ills of liberal India, and how the novelist turned provocateur has lost his way

Politics

Vijay and the limits of cinema stardom in Tamil Nadu politics

Vignesh Karthik K R

17 Apr 2026

The Dhurandhar franchise’s right-wing ideology, Pakistan-bashing and Muslim-bashing and blood-curdling violence makes its success a disturbing development in an already fractured India.

Culture

The deceptions and dangers of the ‘Dhurandhar’ franchise

Anna M M Vetticad

12 Apr 2026

Kashmiri Muslim girls wearing hijab hold a poster of slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei during a demonstration in Budgam district in India-administered Kashmir on 13 March protesting his killing in US airstrikes.

Politics

Kashmiri protests over Iran and Palestine are also protests over Kashmir

Anuradha Bhasin

03 Apr 2026

Politics

Himal Interviews: The pluralism and poetry of India’s past

The Editors

16 Apr 2026

Dalit History Month

A shopkeeper in Delhi with a statuette of B R Ambedkar for sale. Six new books on Ambedkar examine his life and thought with sincere reverence as well as honest critique.

Who gets to write about Ambedkar?

Harish S Wankhede

28 Jul 2023

24 min read

Gulmi, 1966. At the peak of the Panchayat period, this man sings songs about national glory: "Hamro Tenzing Sherpale Chadhyo Himal Chuchura" (Our Tenzing Sherpa has climbed to the top of the Himalaya). Gaines like him traveled from village to village singing songs about contemporary events.
Photo: Carl Hosticka / Nepal Picture Library

Reframing the Dalit experience

Laxmi Murthy

22 Aug 2019

10 min read

Caste on the streets: Dhaka’s street cleaners, many of them Dalits, faced a grim future even before the pandemic

Shah Tazrian Ashrafi

21 Jul 2020

8 min read

‘Dalit Voice’ and V T Rajshekar’s frustrated revolution

Ashik Kahina

05 Jan 2026

25 min read

A schoolboy wearing a face mask and uniform walks past a colourful Sinhala-language mural featuring illustrated students.

Politics

The battle for the ideals of free education in Sri Lanka

Dhanuka Bandara

08 Apr 2026

17 min read

Culture

The demise of Buddhist philosophy in Southasia and its journey to the east

Shashank Kela

24 Mar 2026

33 min read

A miniature painting depicting young Brahmins studying Hindu scripture, circa 1820. Tradition, in Ravikant Kisana’s telling in ‘Meet the Savarnas’, becomes training in hierarchy, where excellence from the margins is permitted only insofar as it does not unsettle the dominant-caste hold on knowledge.

Politics

Unpacking the Savarna state of mind in a caste-ridden India

Shainal Verma

11 Mar 2026

27 min read

Himal Southasian

The sound and fury of Manu Joseph

Vijay and the limits of cinema stardom in Tamil Nadu politics

The deceptions and dangers of the ‘Dhurandhar’ franchise

Kashmiri protests over Iran and Palestine are also protests over Kashmir

Himal Interviews: The pluralism and poetry of India’s past

Dalit History Month

Who gets to write about Ambedkar?

Reframing the Dalit experience

Caste on the streets: Dhaka’s street cleaners, many of them Dalits, faced a grim future even before the pandemic

‘Dalit Voice’ and V T Rajshekar’s frustrated revolution

Books

The battle for the ideals of free education in Sri Lanka

The demise of Buddhist philosophy in Southasia and its journey to the east

Unpacking the Savarna state of mind in a caste-ridden India