Understanding literature as the first step of democracy involves recognising its capacity to cultivate engagement with plurality.

Culture today exists simultaneously as lived practice and articulated narrative. Belief exists simultaneously as an inherited disposition and a constructed understanding.

Professor Hermann Kulke, the German historian whose scholarship fundamentally reshaped the academic understanding of Odisha’s past, passed away at the age of eighty-seven. For more than four decades, Kulke dedicated his intellectual life to studying the historical processes that shaped Odisha’s society, religion, and political traditions.

The Union Budget and the Odisha Budget offer an opportunity to examine how cultural policy is evolving in India. By comparing these budgets with international models of cultural governance, it becomes possible to assess both their achievements and their limitations.

While the expansion of heritage walks represents an encouraging development, it also brings certain challenges. One of the most common tendencies in public heritage storytelling is the romanticisation of history. Cultural landscapes are often narrated through emotionally powerful stories that emphasise glory, devotion, or civilisational pride. Such narratives are attractive and easy to communicate, particularly in informal public settings where audiences expect engaging story

When the Padma Shri honours are announced each year, they often reveal an unheard story of India—one that unfolds far from metropolitan stages and headline-driven achievements.

We live in a time that rewards immediacy. Knowledge is consumed in fragments— summaries, reels, headlines, and quick takes— circulating faster than they can be examined. The speed at which information travels today has undeniably democratized access, but it has also altered the nature of understanding itself.

Few social institutions in the world have shaped a civilisation as deeply as the caste system has shaped India. It is not merely a cultural practice or a religious belief but a comprehensive social structure that has historically governed occupation, marriage, ritual status, settlement patterns, and access to resources.

The architectural legacy of Kalinga occupies a curious position within the broader historiography of Indian architecture. On one hand, the temples of Bhubaneswar, Puri, and Konark are widely recognised as masterpieces of Indian temple architecture. Art historians have repeatedly highlighted their structural clarity and sculptural richness. On the other hand, the architectural narrative of Kalinga has been overwhelmingly framed through the study of temples alone. As a result,

Achieving national recognition with the Padma Shri in 2020, Das’s legacy lies not merely in his performances but also in his systematic effort to preserve, teach, and increase the visibility of Ghoda Nacha at a time when many traditional folk forms were struggling to survive.