Swaveda
Indian history, plainly written.
A short daily post on Indian history — archaeology, genetics, historical linguistics, and the texts. Plus side-by-side translations of public-domain primary works. Plain language; no chest-thumping in either direction.
Plain language
Aimed at any curious reader, not the seminar room. Sanskrit / Pali / Tamil terms get a gloss on first use.
Tradition ≠ evidence
“The Mahabharata describes…” and “the Mahabharata war happened in…” are different sentences, and we don’t silently merge them.
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Latest articles
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The Bread of the Unseen: How the 1943 Bengal Famine Reshaped Calcutta’s Street Life
A new study in South Asian Studies reveals how the rural destitute who flooded Calcutta during the 1943 Bengal Famine reshaped the city's public spaces and created an informal economy of survival.
Kavya Sharma · Sep 16, 2026
The Camphor of Kedah: What Old Tamil Maritime Loanwords Reveal About Early Southeast Asian Trade Networks
Linguistic and epigraphic analysis of Old Tamil loanwords in early Malay and Thai inscriptions provides concrete physical evidence of the botanical and administrative commodities traded by early merchants.
Rohan Bhattacharya · Sep 15, 2026
The Wells of Dholavira: How Micro-Stratigraphy of Harappan Stone Reservoirs Challenges Linear Monsoonal Collapse Models
A re-examination of sediment layers in Dholavira's stone-cut reservoirs reveals how Harappan engineers adapted to fluctuating water tables, challenging simplified narratives of sudden climate-driven collapse.
Rohan Bhattacharya · Sep 14, 2026
The Epigraphic Afterlife: What Repurposed Inscriptions Reveal About Temple Construction in Early Medieval Tamil Nadu
Scholars are analyzing how early medieval builders in the Kaveri delta physically reused Sangam-era hero stones and early Chola donor slabs as active building materials in temple renovations.
Devika Menon · Sep 14, 2026
The Iron of Mayiladumparai: What Micro-Stratigraphy and AMS Dates Reveal About South Asia's Earliest Metallurgy
Excavations at Mayiladumparai in Tamil Nadu push the South Asian Iron Age back to 2172 BCE, challenging long-held models of metallurgical diffusion through secure AMS dating of stratified charcoal.
Rohan Bhattacharya · Sep 13, 2026
Recent translations
All texts →Sanskrit
Arthashastra
Chapter 150 · Book 15, Chapter 1: Paragraphical Divisions of This Treatise
Updated Jul 26, 2026
Sanskrit
Arthashastra
Chapter 149 · Book 14, Chapter 4: Remedies against the Injuries of One's Own Army
Updated Jul 26, 2026
Sanskrit
Arthashastra
Chapter 148 · Book 14, Chapter 3: The Application of Medicines and Mantras
Updated Jul 26, 2026
A note on tone
Swaveda is curious, careful, and dry. There’s no civilizational chest-thumping in either direction here — no “Vedic India invented everything,” no “everything came from outside.” If we get something wrong, tell us. We fix it visibly, with a dated note.