Pragya Tiwari
@PragyaTiwari
Writer on politics and culture | Co-founder - @indianhistory_c | Co-host - @india_briefing | Former Editor - Vice India, The Big Indian Picture, Tehelka
Please do join a conversation today on Narayani Basu's fabulous biography of KM Pannikar- freedom fighter, journalist, federalist, diplomat and so much more- with @PragyaTiwari @ShivshankaMenon and author @narayani_basu !
An astute statesman, unparallel diplomatic prowess and seminal figure in India's foreign policy! A great initiative by @narayani_basu. Must attend event graced by the august presence of @ShivshankaMenon @suhasinih @PragyaTiwari @ratan_mrs @Dhruv_R05
Good morning! Reminder that this Monday evening looks pretty stellar, if I do say so myself. Come see for yourselves, Delhi? 🥹✨
Ratan Thiyam RIP (Thread #7) Ratan Thiyam said, I've to base my plays on myths or else no one will take notice of me, or my work I saw Thiyam's Urubhangam (1980). What he did with Bhasa's words was joy Three things stood out: theatre vocabulary + kinetic precision + spectacle
A corrupt bureaucracy, a looming famine, and a king who made tax officials dance with courtesans in the street. In early 12th-century Kashmir, Kalhaṇa, a medieval poet and historian from Kashmir, records that King Uccala (r. 1101–1111 CE) inherited a state in disarray: the…
What do a Parsi liquor trader, a Marwari black-market dealer, a group of Muslim butchers, and a sex worker from Madhya Pradesh have in common? All were among the first to claim the Indian Constitution as their own. For decades, it was believed that the Indian Constitution was…
How did a businessman become Mughal India’s most controversial heretic? Executed in 1661 on Aurangzeb’s orders, Sarmad Kashani was a Jewish-Armenian mystic whose life and death unsettled the political and religious orthodoxy of Mughal India. He arrived in the subcontinent from…
At JLF London at the British Library 2025, Bruno Macaes, and Samanth Subramanian, in conversation with Pragya Tiwari, offer fascinating insights into how technological development lies at the core of the battle for information and supremacy.
Networks of Power: In the age of digital disruption. @MacaesBruno and @samanth_s in conversation with @PragyaTiwari #JLFLONDON2025 @JLFLitfest @britishlibrary
Paro Forever : Maya Jaggi’s thoughtful introduction to the 2025 edition
'She asked a boss [at Boeing Charleston] if he would let his children fly on a Dreamliner with the litany of flaws and non-conformances...“Cindy, none of these planes are staying in America, they’re all going overseas,” he retorted, much to her horror.' prospect.org/economy/2025-0…
*Missing Person Alert* Message from his granddaughter Arun Kumar, age 77, has been missing since 8:00 AM today in Delhi. He was last seen near Pul Prahladpur, New Delhi. Description: Height: 5’0” Complexion: Whitish Mentally a little unstable Wearing: White shirt with…
Netaji refused to let the Japanese bomb Calcutta. In 1944, as the Indian National Army (INA)—a military force raised by Subhas Chandra Bose to fight British rule, advanced through Burma, the Japanese proposed an aerial bombing of Calcutta. At the time, India was still part of…
Were queer bodies invisible in ancient India? In The First Medicalization: The Taxonomy and Etiology of Queerness in Classical Indian Medicine, Michael J. Sweet and Leonard Zwilling show how ancient Sanskrit sources—including the Caraka Samhita, Susruta Samhita, and early…
Imagine running an empire of millions—without newspapers, radio, or WhatsApp. In the third century BCE, Aśoka, emperor of the Mauryan dynasty, issued edicts across the Indian subcontinent that were more than royal proclamations. As Romila Thapar demonstrates in Aśoka and the…
Delhi, meet the Cholas. I'll be in conversation with the erudite @RishiMajumder of @IndianHistory_C the coming Tuesday, May 27, at @alliancefrdelhi . We'll be talking about the world of medieval South India: politics, society, architecture, gender. @juggernautbooks @Chikisarkar
A Muslim princess at the Delhi court fell in love with a Hindu God. According to the Koyil Oluku (temple chronicle), when Malik Kafur’s forces raided Srirangam under the Delhi Sultanate, they carried away the image of Azhagiya Manavalan , the “Handsome Bridegroom,” and stored it…
A story of a lost Bombay and its working class communities. Beautifully written by @PragyaTiwari scroll.in/article/108264…
I am yet to come across a contemporary Indian play that I love as much as @BoodhuRamu 's Cotton 56, Polyester 84. The play has finally been published and is available to buy and read. It was an honour to write an accompanying essay about the play in the book.…