Abhishek Kaicker
Historian
- Worried the World Is Falling Apart? That’s OK. It’s Happened Before. A review of two new books www.nytimes.com/2025/06/06/b...
- How did Mughal understandings of the historical past evolve and change over time? This is the question explored in my new essay, which focuses particularly on the early eighteenth century. It is open access, and I look forward to your comments. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
- Reposted by Abhishek KaickerSecond scientist recruited to PRC in the past two days. There is more of this to come and much more happening at lower levels: www.scmp.com/news/china/s...
- Reposted by Abhishek KaickerMughal Emperor Alamgir's advice in Braja-Bhasha: Pt. Lajjaram Mehta wrote abt a 'Hitopdesh' (beneficial advice) manuscript that was passed down in his family. It had Alamgir's advice as heard by one Shankar Pant. Was translated from Alamgir's 'Yāminī bhākhā' (Persian?) to Braja dohas
- A history that raises a question
- Grierson, The Modern Vernacular Literature of Hindustan, 1889
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- Reposted by Abhishek Kaickerkosambi did not mince words
- Reposted by Abhishek KaickerThis fascinating new book by Sunila Kalé and Christian Novetzke shows us #yoga in a refreshingly unconventional light: its political and even militant applications over history. cup.columbia.edu/book/the-yog...
- Reposted by Abhishek KaickerBaig’s mushaira is the portrait of a #Delhi and a way of life that now solely exists in the collective memory of ‘Dehli-wallahs’. It was a powerful urge to record the city’s older face in photographic detail. Read my translation of the urdu classic "Dehli ki aakhri shama"
- Reposted by Abhishek KaickerPakistani dictator General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq shaking hands with National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski; President Jimmy Carter stands by, 3 October 1980.
- Reposted by Abhishek KaickerThis is an incredibly ambitious paper, my god. (with a bunch of interesting implications)
- Reposted by Abhishek KaickerThe annual American Historical Association meeting is in NYC in Jan. Every year (since 2006 or so), I count how many papers this gathering has on Iraq and/or Afghanistan. It has never ever been more than 5. This year's count is 2.
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- Adventures in the Indies
- Reposted by Abhishek Kaicker"Medicinal Property of Owl's Body Organs" Folio from Manāfiʿ al-Ḥayawān (Usefulness of Animals), early 14th century, Tabriz, Iran
- Reposted by Abhishek KaickerA short Q&A about *Disrupted City* with my employer's news service
- Reposted by Abhishek KaickerRussia’s version of what happened this week is very funny. Points for comedy & creativity. “As a result of the negotiations held between B. Assad and a number of participants in the armed conflict … he decided to leave the post” www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/1...
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- Reposted by Abhishek KaickerHere's my latest article: "Wearing Many Hats: Chinese Muslim General Bai Chongxi and the Chinese Muslim Association during the War of Resistance." It's Open Access and free to read/download! brill.com/view/journal...
- Reposted by Abhishek KaickerOn #islands, #law and the making of #maritime sovereignty in the Indian Ocean - the first essay from a new bk idea that I am working on w/ support from ACLS: #History #MaritimeHistory #legalhistory.
- Reposted by Abhishek KaickerExtraordinary anecdote about U.S. vs Chinese diplomacy in Africa 👇: the U.S. team were speaking with their African counterparts in French via translators whilst Chinese diplomats had actually gone through the effort of learning the local African language.
- Reposted by Abhishek KaickerFor History Compass, I wrote about new directions in the study of the history of technology in modern South Asia. I explored the potential of these historiographic trends through poetic laments of an early 20th-century railway carpenter named ‘Abdul ‘Aziz in Lahore...
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- Reposted by Abhishek KaickerNot sure why all the desi hate against turkey. I’m a brown fan of turkey. Once a year, that is.
- Reposted by Abhishek KaickerCall for Papers for the Yale Modern South Asia Workshop, to be held June 7-8, 2025. Travel, accommodation, and meals will be provided to all selected candidates for the duration of the Workshop in South Asia. macmillan.yale.edu/southasia/mo...
- Reposted by Abhishek KaickerRich discussion, including interesting concluding arguments by @paulmcgarr.bsky.social on the powerful limitations of foreign intelligence agencies to change the “political weather” in big, complex societies like India.
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- Reposted by Abhishek KaickerI’ve begun a historians of South Asia (broadly defined) starter pack, let me know if you want to be added go.bsky.app/zUV84Fat://did:plc:zkrwhp5zntfhgd55fji226kr/app.bsky.graph.starterpack/3lakckni7cx2j
- Reposted by Abhishek KaickerThis is a book, from @itihaasnaama.bsky.social and Ornit Shani, that is most eagerly awaited. The Indian public took an active part in the process of the making of the constitution.
- Reposted by Abhishek KaickerThe Mughal Emperor Jahangir (r. 1605-1627) seemed to be quite fond of the little get-together he organized in August 1617:
- Reposted by Abhishek KaickerMy favourite archive in India, at NCBS in Bengaluru, is looking for a distinguished professor to work with their collections.
- Reposted by Abhishek Kaickerमहंगाई मार गई. Inflation is on the top of everyone's mind, particularly the middle class. And it is pretty serious.
- Reposted by Abhishek KaickerReminder! The Humanities in Translation (HiT!) prize competition is still open, do please spread the word! @nupress.bsky.social @buffettinstitute.bsky.social nupress.northwestern.edu/humanities-i...
- Reposted by Abhishek Kaicker'The Dream of Zulaykha', painted by Mughal artists 100 years apart. Left painting from 1670 (Amer Album), right one from 1770 (Lucknow). Joseph (Yusuf), a paragon of beauty, appears to Zulaykha in her dreams. In the left pic he is dressed in very typical Mughal muslin garments.
- Cute, but for the fact that no middle class existed in 14th century Delhi to appreciate the supposedly lenient taxation policies of Ghiyas ud-din tuqhlaq
- Reposted by Abhishek KaickerA depiction of the infamous assassination attempt on Mughal Emperor Akbar,made from the roof of Maham Begum's Madarsa (Khairul Manazil,Delhi). Akbar was returning from Nizamuddin Dargah. The outer shells of the busy shops in the painting can still be seen next to Khairul Manazil opposite Delhi zoo.
- Reposted by Abhishek KaickerThe key stages of Robert Caro’s research and writing process (mainline it)
- Hugo Grotius on Jean Bodin
- Reposted by Abhishek Kaickerlaszlo krasznahorkais "destruction and sorrow beneath the heavens", by casting 2005 China in his usual bleak, hysterical style, really captures what a lot of accounts of that time don't; that more than 1911 or 1967, Chinese capitalism really was something apocalyptic
- Reposted by Abhishek KaickerSame picture when you look at infrastructure: today, India's expressway network is just 5,930 kilometers long (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Express...), 22 years after construction of the network began. It's the same length as Malaysia's network, a country with just 34 million people to India's 1.4 billion
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