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.

To speak of Odisha adapting to summer is therefore not merely to describe cooling foods or seasonal festivals. It is to examine how communities across the state have historically converted climate stress into social practice. In this system, food becomes more than cuisine. Festivals become more than a celebration.

As part of Ekamra Anubhav 2.0, participants will have the opportunity to engage with the art of palm leaf etching (Talapatra Chitra) through a hands-on interaction. Know more about the event...

You may have come across our recent announcement introducing Ekamra Anubhav 2.0 . The response to that post has already brought up a few immediate questions—why “2.0”, whether there was an earlier version, and what exactly has changed. The announcement itself was simple. Heritage walks, over the past few years, have become an important way for people to reconnect with historic places, and their growing presence across cities reflects a welcome shift in public engagement with

In 'Bones, Stones, and Buddhist Monks,' Schopen argues that late Buddhist monasteries functioned as “corporate ritual institutions concerned with initiation, property, and lineage transmission".......

Which languages receive the conditions to survive as living, future-facing tools and which are pushed into the museum of nostalgia?

Across Odisha, Shiva appears in multiple forms: as ascetic and householder, as linga and anthropomorphic icon, as guardian of cities and dweller of forests, as royal deity and village god.

Curated by Sibdas Sengupta, the exhibition resists the logic of a conventional retrospective. Instead, it operates as a living archive, a constellation of images, materials, gestures, and memories...

Buddhist learning unfolded through cities, campuses, monasteries, and landscapes, adapting to local conditions while remaining connected through transregional networks.

The association of Pushpagiri with the clustered monastic landscape of Lalitgiri, Ratnagiri, and Udayagiri reshapes regional and national narratives of Buddhist education.

The entry of Buddhist Odisha into modern historical consciousness begins with colonial archaeology. Early British surveys noted mounds and scattered sculptures, but often misidentified them as Jain.

Culture is increasingly framed as knowledge that must be documented, interpreted, and institutionalised within digital, educational, and tourism systems.

Understanding Buddhist Odisha in a way that shifts the narrative from imperial moment to regional continuity, from isolated sites to an interconnected cultural landscape.