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.
Readers can edit
Sign in to send a correction or addition. If it holds up, it changes the article and credits you. If it’s contested, it’s preserved as a reader note.
Latest articles
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The Merchant’s Ledger at Berenike: Epigraphic Evidence for Tamil Trade Terminology in Roman Red Sea Ostraca
First-century CE potsherds from the Red Sea port of Berenike feature Tamil-Brahmi graffiti, offering direct textual evidence of South Indian merchant networks operating inside Roman Egypt.
Asha Naidu · Nov 7, 2026
Soap, Sacred Art, and the Soapbox: How Colonial Advertisers Repurposed Ravi Varma's Chromolithographs
Colonial-era advertisers reshaped Indian devotional art when corporate calendars placed soap bars at the feet of gods drawn by Raja Ravi Varma's press.
Vikram Joshi · Nov 7, 2026
The Stratigraphy of Farmana: What Micro-Debris and Phytoliths Reveal About Early Harappan Domestic Space
Micro-botanical residues and soil stratigraphy at Farmana challenge broad claims about Harappan domestic space, revealing dynamic, shifting household activity areas across the Early to Mature transitions.
Rohan Bhattacharya · Nov 6, 2026
The Weaver's Thread at Nevasa: Microscopic Evidence for Cotton Spinning in Chalcolithic Maharashtra
Microscopic thread traces found inside copper beads at Nevasa reveal how second-millennium BCE Chalcolithic farmers in Maharashtra organized local cotton spinning alongside subsistence agriculture.
Kavya Sharma · Nov 6, 2026
Small References, Big Biases: How Sample Sizes Distort Ancient Indian Admixture Models
A new bioRxiv paper shows how small reference panels introduce systematic bias into genetic mixture models like Summix2, offering crucial cautions for South Asian paleogenomics.
Dr. Anil Patel · Nov 6, 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.