While a ceremonial fusillade of firecrackers sounded outside, a black-capped Brahmin pandit recited Sanskrit prayers last week in a factory conference hall at Poona, outside Bombay. It was the time of ...

Patnaik also pointed to traditions that sit outside mainstream urban conversations. In several folk practices across India, ...

India’s spiritual landscape has never stood still. Long before the grand shrines of Shiva and Vishnu rose to prominence, the land was alive with countless other gods. They watched over forests, rivers ...

GUDUTA, India — The ritual began with a thunderous roll of leather drums, its clamor echoing through the entire village. Women dressed in colorful saris broke into an Indigenous folk dance, tapping ...