Patrick McCartney 1500 words Patrick is an anthropologist trained in archaeology, linguistics, and philology, as well as sociology, political science, and computational social science. He is interested in the marketing of memory and the construction of community, particularly how it is expressed through the commodification of culture within the transnational…

This is title and abstract of my forthcoming book chapter. You can download a free copy of the PDF, here. The primary field of enquiry is the transnational USD 4.75 trillion-dollar wellness (tourism) industry. Today, Yoga is instrumentalized in service of the soft power ambitions of the Indian state. “Yogaland,”…

Modi’s IDY 2021 Speech

forthcoming chapter in Nationalism: Past, Present, and Future

Updated July 04, 2021 (Added some information about Pali and Sanskrit terms of address to inferiors ( अरे / Are!) Updated June 18, 2021 (Added Rules of Address from Nāṭyaśāstra, and examples from Ṛgveda and Kṛṣṇayajurveda) Susanna Barkataki appears to have a solid grip on the novel X+Yoga hybrid of…

The distinction between “Vedic Sanskrit,” which is anything but pure and precise, is different to the later, refined Classical Sanskrit, which itself has multiple layers. This is the reason why scholars can show how various sections of texts were likely composed and inserted later, as the language used is identifiably different. — If the reader is curious, here is some of the original “language of Yoga,” which one could apply some sort of intersectional critical deconstructionist literary theory.

Language loss in the Indian Himalayas This was a DRAFT, which became published in some other articles, like this one in the Wire. Not all of it was included and most of the images were left out. So, this version presents a more comprehensive picture. Language-killer = bhāṣā-hantṛ As a consequence of the global popularity of yoga, there is an unspoken threat to the marginalised languages of South Asia, such as the Central Pahari languages, Garhwali and Kumouni. This occurs via the banal support and shared appreciation that Hindus, Hindu supremacists and global yoga consumers have for the Sanskrit language.

Does anyone know anything about the stone tablet in this picture I stumbled across on Pinterest?

Drinking for courage, forging ahead, stealing cattle, and humiliating losers By “battle,” what I mean is the metaphorical battle over the narratives curated on behalf of Yoga. Often, the popular and official narratives that are shared and repeated grow in legitimacy, as time passes. Yet, it is often the case that instead of facts, factoids circulate. …