Namit Arora

Namit Arora is a writer, social critic and has authored three books, including Indians and The Lottery of Birth. Trained in science- technology and the humanities, his recent work is the web series, ‘Indians: A Brief History of a Civilization’.

Romila Thapar on the emergence of a common Indian identity

Namit Arora and Romila Thapar on how identities in early and medieval India were formed, contested, and why a shared sense of “Indianness” may be a colonial-era development

By Romila Thapar and Namit Arora

/ 28 Jan 2026

Romila Thapar on the emergence of a common Indian identity

The road to Khajuraho

The origins of erotica in the Subcontinent's religious art.

By Namit Arora

/ 12 Mar 2021

A collective madness

What Modi's victory says about today's India.

By Namit Arora

/ 27 May 2019

No saints or miracles

Perry Anderson’s ‘The Indian Ideology’ bores through the orthodoxies of Indian nationalist history.

By Namit Arora

/ 15 Jan 2013

Such a long journey

How and why 145,000 people migrated to a small Caribbean island.

By Namit Arora

/ 1 Oct 2011

The void of Nagarjuna

At a time when Buddhist teachings were under threat from multiple directions, the 'second Buddha' did much to revive and build upon them.

By Namit Arora

/ 29 Jan 2011

In light of Nalanda

The ruins of one of Asia’s great centres of learning still inspire travellers.

By Namit Arora

/ 1 Mar 2010

Polo on the Coromandel

Seven centuries have passed since Marco Polo opened Western eyes to the Subcontinent, yet his account continues to resonate.

By Namit Arora

/ 1 Dec 2009

Ancient Indian scepticism

The Carvaka school of philosophy offered some of the first rationalist opposition to the otherworldly tendencies of Hinduism and Buddhism. Through the ages, various societies have sparkled with bursts of

By Namit Arora

/ 3 Aug 2009