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Dargāhqolī Khān, also known as Moʿtaman-al-Dawla Moʿtaman-al-Molk Sālār-J̌ang and Khān-e Dawrān Navāb, was a high-ranking Iranian official at the court of the Neżāms of Hyderabad and Awrangābād for several generations, best known for his description of Delhi. He was descended from Khāndānqolī Khān Δ olqadr, a member of the Bōrbōr sub-tribe who had joined the line of Torkman chiefs in the region of Mašhad and had migrated to India in 1048 A.H./1638 A.D. The paper presents a brief note on the biography of this prominent Indian politician of Iranian descent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite being the smallest branch of Buddhism worldwide, Vajrayana Buddhism is the majority religion in Tibet, Mongolia, and Bhutan, where it wields significant religious and political power. This power has traditionally been concentrated among a small number of lamas, most notably the Dalai Lama, who upon their passing are replaced by a successor in accordance with traditional rituals. Since Tibet came under control of China in 1950, the Chinese Communist Party has sought to gain complete control over Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism, coopting these leadership institutions by installing its own puppet lamas. However, the flight of the current Dalai Lama from the Tibetan capital Lhasa in 1959 led to the exodus of Tibetans to India, where a government-in- exile was established in Dharamsala. This government, which derives its legitimacy from the Dalai Lama, represents the interests of the Tibetan people, including challenging Chinese rule over Tibet. The current Dalai Lama is now an octogenarian, and his passing will create a religious power vacuum at the core of Vajrayana Buddhism. This paper explores several possible outcomes of this religious power vacuum, and whether Vajrayana Buddhism can maintain its integrity and autonomy moving forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the influence of Pietism on the radical evangelical Christian movement known as the Open Brethren movement. In the 1830s, Anthony Norris Groves (1795–1853) met with German Lutheran missionary Karl Rhenius in India and praised his methods, which included support for indigenous Christian leaders and the independent churches that they led. Karl Gützlaff promoted similar methods in China and influenced wealthy London Brethren to found the China Evangelization Society (CES) in 1850. The CES founders also took the Moravians as a model, noting that a single congregation had launched a global missionary movement that had perpetuated itself from generation to generation. Although they had no formal relationship with the Moravian United Brethren, the Open Brethren knew of their work and that of Pietist institutions like the Francke Foundations both through personal contacts and publications. This paper utilizes the concept of "ensampling" to analyze the ways that Open Brethren founders modeled their work on practices that Pietist missionaries and philanthropists had developed in the long eighteenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the Jung-India continuum which encapsulates many centuries of transcultural history. At the centre is Germany's role in advancing Sanskrit scholarship, the Sacred Books of the East being one of Jung's primary sources of readings on India. Jung's notions about India were guided by German romanticism and enclosed many layers of cultural interactions between the two countries. They reflect historical moments of how notions about race and culture were formed through various interconnected movements. Jung's long engagement with and his journey through India, at many points held indeterminate ideas about culture and feelings of otherness about India, its people, knowledge, religious goals etc. This paper elaborates on Jung's notion of 'cultural other' with reference to India. India was also the ground for his discovery of his own psychological standpoint different from the East and the dream of the Grail. Jung had many divergences with Indian philosophers and spiritualists which made these transcultural exchanges complex. For example, the concept of unconscious psyche is absent in Indian philosophical knowledge. This paper examines these issues in understanding the notion of 'cultural other' in Jung, and the various ways by which he carried and expressed his differences, that facilitated a relational pathway between Jung and India, critical for future inquiry and dialogue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gig Economy platforms have become enmeshed in the fabric of urban sociality. While they have substantially disrupted conditions of labouring, participating in the platform economy has also changed social and moral norms globally. Importantly, what constitutes normative moral and prosocial interpersonal behaviour is key to making platforms function as social environments, but these norms are also constantly challenged and rearticulated through everyday practice among different stakeholders. By drawing on long-term fieldwork across gig economy platforms in urban India, we offer a typology of dynamic social and moral norms around tipping, gratitude, politeness and more that sustain platform interactions. The paper's aim is to re-centre the vitality and dynamism of everyday media practice, social relationships, and cultural values in shaping platforms. Relatedly, moving beyond binaries of exploitation/empowerment, we show how negotiations between agents with differential power contribute to shifts in platform culture that cannot be fully explained through notions of intentionality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infrastructure has often been approached through the built, and yet hidden, substrates that facilitate modern life. In postcolonial contexts, the rise of platformized solutions tasked with performing infrastructural functions has introduced complexity in theorizing infrastructure. However, provisional and temporary solutions that bring together networks, relationships, and habitations as jugaad (informal or workaround) infrastructure have the potential to address crises beyond neoliberal capture enabled through platformization. This paper uses theories on alternative ways of assembling infrastructures to analyze a rescue portal built during the Kerala floods in 2018. It argues that these complex forms of assembling an infrastructure, even during the moments of imminent existential crisis, face the risk of platformized capture, surveillance, and governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Catfishing is a peculiar digital phenomenon that involves a relationship using a fictional online persona. What distinguishes catfishing from other forms of digital production that deploy 'misleading' information or impersonation is that although this phenomenon might include such strategies, it is often employed for romantic scams. This paper looks at the alternative forms of intimacy afforded by digital platforms with their particular set of tools, especially in the context of digital cultures in India. By using catfishing as a lens to read intimacy in the digital, this study looks at unexpected possibilities of the digital as a mediatized space that in turn generates new types of relationalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2014, when the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party took power, India has witnessed attacks by cow vigilantes (gaurakshaks), who have beaten up and lynched people – mostly in the Muslim community – accusing them of smuggling cows for slaughter. Although vigilantes claim to protect cows, considered sacred in Hinduism, scholars argue they are 'shadow armies' and 'foot soldiers' in a politically motivated campaign against minorities and marginalized populations. India has a long tradition of cow-related iconography, songs, and music. However, some of these forms and practices have been used by right-wing groups to further their agendas. The rise in cow vigilantism has been accompanied by a surge in digital media that support and further violence, including music videos. This paper focuses on YouTube music videos to investigate how various sociotechnological components form a complex assemblage that enables the articulation and circulation of a highly polarized majoritarian narrative about cows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I suggest that Roman Catholic theologians in India take a second look at the distinction between western and Indian secularisms. Blurring the lines between western and Indian secularisms may help the theological reflection on the so-called crisis of Indian secularism. The key point is the non-ontological, historical character of secularism. A look at the growing literature on western post-secularization, in fact, may offer some suggestions about how to deal with the nationalist mooring of Hindutva philosophy. A possibility exists that both the West and India are eventually entering simultaneously, but not necessarily on the same terms, a post-secular phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How is Pentecostalism changing the notions and experiences of citizenship at the margins of the state? Addressing this question, the paper argues that in the context of south Rajasthan, the Pentecostal church has played a vital role in combining the values of both pedagogical and governmental paradigms of citizenship not just to fill in the absence of the state but also to create an alternative model of citizenship that goes beyond the mere political rights. This alternative model of 'Christian citizenship' has effectively combined development with Pentecostal moral values. Furthermore, the Pentecostal church, by acting as a pedagogical agent, by organising active social ministries, and by developing ethical subjectivities among the Bhils, has engendered new notions of agency, autonomy and citizenship at the margins of the state. Résumé: Comment le pentecôtisme modifie-t-il les conceptions et les expériences de la citoyenneté aux marges de l' État ? Cet article montre que dans le contexte du Sud du Rajasthan, l' église pentecôtiste a joué un rôle déterminant, en combinant les valeurs des paradigmes pédagogiques et gouvernementaux de la citoyenneté, mais aussi en créant un modèle alternatif de citoyenneté qui va au-delà des seuls droits politiques. Ce modèle alternatif de « citoyenneté chrétienne » associe le développement aux valeurs morales pentecôtistes. En tant qu'acteur pédagogique, à travers son action sociale et en développant de nouvelles subjectivités éthiques chez les Bhils, l' église pentecôtiste a contribué à façonner de nouvelles formes d' agentivité, d' autonomie et de citoyenneté aux marges de l' État. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the end of the Korean War, 76 Korean and 12 Chinese prisoners of war (POWs) refused to return to either side of their divided countries. Instead, they sought asylum in neutral nations that were yet to be determined. Situating this theme issue's three articles in the larger Korean War historiography, this introduction provides a chronology of major events that culminated in the 88 POWs' departure from Korea and voyage to India on 9 February 1954. Emphasizing that these 88 men were not fundamentally different from the other 150,000 Korean and 21,000 Chinese POWs, this paper underscores the fact that these 88 POWs, having survived battles and captivity, risked their lives to escaped from their compound leaders and sought neutral nations' protection. The stories of the 88 prisoners "choosing" neutral nations were in fact tales of survival and escape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethiopia is witnessing new twists and turns both in its domestic and foreign policy domain of late with the incumbent government in power adopting political and economic reforms aimed at fostering changes to bring about development. This has invariably provided an opportunity for India to consolidate its relationship with Ethiopia further. The new domestic political and economic reforms and the friendly gestures that the present government under Abiy Ahmed has made with its neighbors has drawn the attention of the international community to the extent of awarding him with Nobel Peace Prize. Such reform measures of Ethiopia have given India with wide scope to engage itself constructively and extend political and economic support in areas where both countries stand to gain. India's active engagement with Africa in general and Ethiopia in particular is all the more important given the China factor that has been competing with other countries of the region. This paper describes the domestic political developments in Ethiopia during the post Cold War era and its struggle to maintain the intricate ethnic balance that has characterized its nation-building process by tracing it from the days of King Haile Selassie I. It further analyzes the steps taken by the government to remove obstacles to peace and development through adopting economic liberalization measures and foreign policy changes. These are discussed in a chronological manner starting with a conceptual framework and using predominantly secondary sources and relying on personal observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is an attempt to analyse the emergence of virtual "alliances" based on imagined kinship between some ethnic groups and peoples of the Irano-Caucaso-Anatolian region. It focuses on several illustrative examples, particularly the case of the Talysh-Zaza rapprochement, which has been developed recently as a result of popular interpretation of the postulated theory of the Caspian-Aturpatakan language union, implying a close symbiosis, in the historical past, of the ancestors of the present-day speakers of several New Iranian dialects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proceeding from a critical assessment of two recent books, Prasannan Parthasarathi's Why Europe Grew Rich and Asia Did Not, and Jean-Laurent Rosenthal and R. Bin Wong's Before and Beyond Divergence, this paper takes stock of the present state of the "Great Divergence" debate. It is argued that the discussion needs to be refined to distinguish between levels of economic development, and paths or trends, in the eighteenth century as well as between causes of sustained growth, and of stagnation or decline in the nineteenth century. It is further suggested that the debate needs to be connected to an understanding of the causes of a "Great Convergence" in the early modern world, and how different regions might have reached similar levels of economic complexity, but might nevertheless have been on different paths for future growth. Finally, this paper suggests that the divergence debate also needs to be connected to the debate on the transition to capitalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we try to raise caution against the consequences of the overwhelming drive for microfinance institutions to become financially self-sustainable-more often than not pushed into this by international organizations. Such a push can have severe consequences, ranging from mission drift to questionable practices employed by institutions. Focusing on India, we discuss the extent to which donors influence the microfinance sector and identify the role that international organizations play in pushing microfinance institutions away from their primary objective of delivering financial services to the poor. Revisiting the microfinance crisis which erupted in India in March 2006, this case study reveals a fundamental problem: the zeal of private and public actors, driven by motives that are hard to relate to the fight against poverty, a new commercial niche for the former and a collection of vote banks for the latter. Understanding the origin, the driving forces, and the extent of this problem may not only help us work out an improved governance process, but may also help us evaluate the reach and limits of microfinance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research paper probes into the reverse migrants' psychological dimensions and provides insights on their motivational dynamics. Key demographic variables are taken into consideration and the respondents' perception towards own life cycle stage, the foreign country and the home country provides salient insights on the reverse migration literature. I have, in this empirical paper, correlated demographic variables with select reverse migration factors and have offered plausible reasons and underlying forces behind the return of Indian expatriates abroad. I present the argument in my paper that the underlying causes for return migration are the same globally irrespective of the country of present residence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many scholars have written on the conversion of Bhimrao Ambedkar from Hinduism to Buddhism, trying to explain it. In this paper, I argue that a hermeneutics of conversion is needed to understand what this transition means in the larger academic community. Through using the concept of the 'thematic site', a narrative trope that draws on the Lacanian idea of the 'point de capiton' (also known as the 'nodal point' or 'quilting point'), to investigate how the invisible is evoked in the visible of these scholarly accounts of Ambedkar's Buddhism, this paper argues that academic accounts of this conversion rearticulate colonial dichotomies of modern/traditional, mapping them onto the binary of West/East. That is, by tracing common academic representations of Ambedkar's conversion, this paper posits that there is an obfuscated relation that is articulated in the depiction of this event, a connection that invisibly connects Ambedkar's act to colonial constructions of knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of commentators have suggested various cautions and caveats about assuming a positive relationship between Hinduism and the environment. The main points of contention are the limitations of textual exegesis; the environmentally damaging consequences of some Hindu beliefs and practices; and questions over whether any religion provides an adequate or appropriate basis from which to address contemporary environmental challenges. This paper explores a rather different and very problematic relationship that is being drawn, by some, between Hinduism and the environment. It focuses on the recent involvement of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) in protests against Tehri Dam. Neglecting the social and environmental problems that motivate other protestors, the VHP has sought to frame the dam as a communal issue—a threat by "outsiders"/Muslims to the holy river Ganges, and "therefore" to the Hindu religion, and "thus" the nation. The paper argues that, in the context of an increasingly aggressive Hindu nationalism, environmental issues and movements are by no means immune from the dangerous and divisive religious politics that are being played out in contemporary India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1990s, India and Myanmar have sought rapprochement through geo-economic strategies and discourses. The results, however, have been largely underwhelming. This paper offers an explanation for why this has been the case. We argue that the two geo-economic strategies deployed—sub-regionalism and diaspora-driven trade and investment—require the emergence of particular types of deterritorialised and denationalised citizenship regimes which facilitate the mobilisation of provincial capital and diasporic capital. The development of such social forces in India and Myanmar have been stifled by the persistence of older 'regimes of citizenship' associated with geopolitical strategies based on territoriality and pre-existing social hierarchies. In Myanmar, the emphasis on ‘Bamar' identity has led to a hierarchical citizenship regime which marginalises people of Indian origin. While deterritorialised forms of citizenship have emerged in India as the government seeks to harness the economic power of the Indian diaspora, the target of its policies has been the more socially privileged diaspora settled in the West. Moreover, India's Northeast has long been constructed as being culturally distinct and prone to ‘disloyalty' which hinders sub-regionalism. Hence, transforming the relationship requires not just greater political will or technocratic policy changes, but addressing the long-held national anxieties and social hierarchies which underpin India and Myanmar's regimes of citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1990s, India and Myanmar have sought rapprochement through geo-economic strategies and discourses. The results, however, have been largely underwhelming. This paper offers an explanation for why this has been the case. We argue that the two geo-economic strategies deployed-sub-regionalism and diaspora-driven trade and investment--require the emergence of particular types of deterritorialised and denationalised citizenship regimes which facilitate the mobilisation of provincial capital and diasporic capital. The development of such social forces in India and Myanmar have been stifled by the persistence of older 'regimes of citizenship' associated with geopolitical strategies based on territoriality and pre-existing social hierarchies. In Myanmar, the emphasis on 'Bamar' identity has led to a hierarchical citizenship regime which marginalises people of Indian origin. While deterritorialised forms of citizenship have emerged in India as the government seeks to harness the economic power of the Indian diaspora, the target of its policies has been the more socially privileged diaspora settled in the West. Moreover, India's Northeast has long been constructed as being culturally distinct and prone to 'disloyalty' which hinders sub-regionalism. Hence, transforming the relationship requires not just greater political will or technocratic policy changes, but addressing the long-held national anxieties and social hierarchies which underpin India and Myanmar's regimes of citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can a small state stand up to some of the major powerful states? If the answer is yes, what sort of socio-political environment would enable a small state to stand up to powerful states and effectively relieve hegemonic pressure from powerful states? This paper argues that Sri Lanka, a small and weak state, managed in the last few years, to effectively relieve hegemonic pressure from India and is standing up to the the USA. The Sri Lankan case demonstrates that a small state can effectively relieve hegemonic pressure from powerful states if its political milieu entails the following three elements: (l) the will of the political leadership, (2) a supportive population, and (3) patronage of major rival states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The publishing sector in India is growing at an estimated 30 per cent annually. New publishing technologies are creating opportunities tor book publishers in the country. The current ebook market is said to be less than one per cent of the total book market, but expected to grow multifold in the next 2-3 years. This paper scopes out the factors that will lead to the growth of ebooks, namely, growth of literacy; internet penetration; proliferation of personal handheld devices; localization; and the government's policies and initiatives. It lists the epublishing efforts of private publishers and new enterprises in education and trade segments of the industry. The article observes that although ebook publishing is at a nascent stage with potential for remarkable growth, print runs of printed books are increasing simultaneously. A hybrid model for the book industry, of both printed books and ebooks, is suggested as a viable option for the needs of a developing country such as India, where access to digital content continues to be a significant challenge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environmental degradation and social dislocations caused by industrial agriculture have created an urgency to rethink food production and consumption. The proliferation of farmers markets is one example of the public response to perceived problems with the existing food system, however the bewildering array of food choices suggest a need for new guidelines for food and agriculture. This paper asks how expanding the moral imagination through narrative can help us rethink human behavior in the context of agricultural practice. Agriculture is an inherently relational, and rethinking practice means revisiting metaphors and narratives that guide behavior in the biotic community. I use a Hindu agricultural narrative to think through existing practices and the narratives contexts. This story does not romanticize human relations with nature, but instead reflects power dynamics in human (and particularly gendered) relationships, and, more important, in human interactions in the biotic community. My analysis considers relevant tropes and themes, e.g. citizenship and community, so that we can ask "what stories about agriculture do we tell ourselves?" and "what stories might we be telling?" to address the current agrarian crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bishop Stephen Neill's name elicits polarized perspectives. On the one hand he was one of the great Christian scholars of the twentieth century; on the other hand, his personal life was an enigma. This paper intends to explore some of the various responses to Bishop Neill's legacy since his death in 1984, giving special attention to the case study of how he lost his bishopric in India in 1945. It was a devastating event for Neill; he was forced to leave against his wishes. India was his true love, and the loss was tremendous for him. How could a bishop the stature of Stephen Neill have been forced from his see? After his death in 1984 a flurry of articles appeared in various publications. Some of these praised him, essentially arguing that whatever failings Neill may have had, his reputation should not be soiled by a few indiscretions in his younger years. Others, however, questioned how a clergyman, a bishop no less, could essentially get away with bizarre habits that created lasting wounds in some of the people in his care. Neill was never publicly chastised for what he did; he was quietly moved into a new role in the Anglican Church and eventually moved to Geneva where he worked with the World Council of Churches. Why Neill lost the prestigious see of Tinnevelly in South India was a matter of intense questioning until recently. This article uncovers what happened in South India in 1944 and 1945 that led to such drastic action. Neill did manage to recover, becoming one of the great historians of the world Christian movement. Today, his legacy is profound, evinced in the dozens of fine books he published. However, there are others who are still pained by him. This was an enigmatic man, deeply committed to his Christian faith, yet deeply flawed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A significant segment of internal migration in India at large, and in the states of Rajasthan and Orissa in particular, continues to be distress-led. Colossal collapse of rural employment generation, the economic setbacks at cultivation, and, the largely deficient employment opportunities in urban centres among others, are believed to be the driving force bebind the rise of a more insecure type of movement now. Paradoxically however, this movement occurs in a world supplemented by a renewed belief in sanctioning equality of opportunity as a way of life, propagating fuller economic growth, and endorsing greater social cohesion (Aldridge 2001), across the socio-political spectrum. As a result, migratory processes and their subsequent impacts thereof, attains critical significance in the present times. It is in the above context that the proposed paper contextualizes migration debates within historiography, policy, and economy of the states of Orissa and Rajasthan in India, and seeks to elucidate the formidable challenges it represents for the Indian social fabric. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A widely-known painting currently in the Wellcome Library (Iconographic 574912i) depicts an anatomical view of the male human body according to the tenets of classical Indian medicine, or ayurveda. The painting is surrounded by text passages in the Sanskrit language on medical and anatomical topics. In this paper, the Sanskrit texts are identified, edited, translated and assessed. I establish a terminus a quo for the painting, and explore the relationship of text and image. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When people from one culture visit the transformational development work in another country the question of 'understanding' is raised. This paper draws on the philosophical writings of Heidegger and Gadamer to show how interpretations are made in an experience of 'being there'. We argue that understanding is always on-the-way, influenced by past experience, interest, and mood. 'Being-there' affords an opportunity to move beyond taken-for-granted assumptions, to become more attuned to the hermeneutic 'as' that reveals the complex nature of 'meaning'. At the same time, we recognise that understanding always comes with the possibility of misunderstanding. Dialogue, where partners seeks to understand the experience of 'other, opens the way forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

West Bengal, situated in the eastern part of the country, is one of the most beautiful and important states of India. In a developing country like India, fish is one of the cheapest sources of protein and West Bengal contributes a major portion of the total fish production. Fishery development represents a vital sector in West Bengal. The degree of success in this sector depends to a great extent on the advancement of fish parasitology research, as it is evident that the increase of fish yields can only be achieved from healthy fish stock. During an investigation (July 2001 - December 2002), a protozoan ectoparasite, Chilodonella hexasticha (Kiernik, 1909) Kahl, 1931, was found on the gills of a freshwater fish Nandus nandus (Hamilton). This finding is very important for the fishery sector, as this parasite causes the disease chilodonellosis, which leads to mass mortality. The present paper deals with the morphology, systematics, seasonal incidences and prevalence of C. hexasticha. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many environmentalists draw upon religious teachings to argue that humanity ought to transform its relationship with the natural world. They maintain that religious systems teach that the earth is sacred and has an intrinsic value beyond its use value to humanity. However, whilst many cultures have religious practices or teachings associated with the natural world, such traditions of nature religion ought to be distinguished from religious environmentalism. This paper suggests that religious environmentalism is limited because it is a product of Western ideas about nature, in particular a 'romantic' vision of nature as a realm of purity and aesthetic value. Although in India, for example, people worship certain trees, this is not evidence of an inherent environmental awareness, if only because such practices are very ancient and pre-date concerns about a global environmental crisis. Moreover, many people in developing countries, such as India, are directly dependent upon the natural world and cannot afford radically to alter their behaviour towards nature to accommodate religious environmentalist goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]