india

Karma, Guru, Avatar: The True Meanings of Sanskrit Loans

While we casually use words like 'Avatar' and 'Karma' in daily English, their journey from the ancient Vedas involves a…

5 days ago

English Words Borrowed From Tamil: More Than Just Curry

While most people know the word "curry" hails from India, few realize that everyday English words like "mango", "catamaran", and…

5 days ago

Hindi vs. Urdu: Sister Languages or the Same Entity?

While Hindi and Urdu rely on completely different writing systems and divergent formal vocabularies—drawing from Sanskrit and Persian respectively—they share…

6 days ago

Italian of the East: Unlocking Telugu’s Melodic Secret

Discover the fascinating linguistics behind Telugu, often called the "Italian of the East" due to its unique 'Ajanta' structure where…

6 days ago

Madala Panji: The Temple Chronicles of Odia

Discover the Madala Panji, the drum-shaped palm-leaf chronicles of the Jagannath Temple, which mark a revolutionary shift from verse to…

6 days ago

How Palm Leaves Shaped the Odia Script

Explore the fascinating intersection of linguistics and material science by discovering how the fragile nature of palm leaves dictated the…

6 days ago

A Royal Tongue: The Golden Age of Telugu

Travel back to the 16th-century Vijayanagara Empire to discover why Emperor Krishnadevaraya famously declared Telugu the "greatest of the nation's…

1 week ago

One Language, Two Anthems: The Power of Bengali Poetry

Discover the unique linguistic phenomenon of Bengali, the only language in the world to claim the national anthems of two…

1 week ago

The Man Who Mapped India’s Languages

In 1894, one man embarked on a seemingly impossible quest: to map every language on the Indian subcontinent. Discover the…

2 months ago

When Did We Agree on Place Names?

Ever wondered why Bombay became Mumbai, or why The Netherlands is no longer called Holland? The names on our maps…

3 months ago

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