Research

The Rekhta Foundation began as a digital archive. It has now evolved into a larger ecosystem, using technology and programming to expand access to Urdu and other Indic languages

Had the French monarchy’s diplomatic and military strategy prevailed in the Pennsylvania backcountry, the map and even the linguistic landscape of the modern US might have looked very different.

Folklore, folk songs, and historical sources highlight the enduring reverence for fish in Bengal. It also features in rituals associated with birth, marriage, and death. Today, it has acquired political significance, emerging as a symbol

Drawing on ancient texts, regional literature, fieldwork, and interviews, Priyadarshini Chatterjee’s 'First Bite' maps the distinct breakfast traditions of ten Indian cities.

Persian once functioned as the dominant language of public administration, revenue accounting, and courtly communication in Bengal

Indian traders stood at the heart of a global maritime story, with the Strait of Hormuz gaining prominence from the 13th century until it became a crucial strategic centre under the Safavids.

Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar films, supported by Shashwat Sachdev’s soundtracks, try to resurrect the sounds of 1990s Bombay to awaken a deeply conditioned collective memory.

A group of highly educated Jesuits once championed Indian languages, classical texts, and philosophical traditions, asserting that one could be a culturally rooted Indian nationalist while remaining within the Catholic faith.

Maharashtra has repealed 80 obsolete Acts and buried in them is a history of opium dens, flogging courts, leprosy asylums and wartime grain control

Drawing from rare documents, Wajid Ali Shah: A Cultural and Literary Legacy reconstructs the life of Wajid Ali Shah, who was not only a patron of music and the arts but also a poet, dramatist,

Persian has deeply influenced India’s language and literature for centuries, and everyday speech, shaping administration, poetry, and vocabulary in Hindi, Urdu, and regional cultures.

With the 2026 West Bengal Assembly election underway, campaigns spill across walls, WhatsApp, and social media. From painted slogans to viral memes, Bengal’s politics has simply changed its canvas, not its creativity or bite.

The Indo‑Iranian connection did not end with the Indus Valley civilisation; it carried forward through language, philosophy, and poetry.

For over 5,000 years, the Persian Gulf has been a hub of civilisation. From Elam and Sumer to the Assyrians and Babylonians, ancient societies thrived along its shores, trading and connecting with coastal communities.

In ‘James Lawson: The teacher of Satyagraha’, author Rajmohan Gandhi throws light on a key figure in the American civil rights movement and his reverence towards Mahatma Gandhi.

Although a minority, Indian Shias maintained cultural influence through connections with ruling dynasties, balancing local customs with ties to broader Shia networks in Iraq and Iran. They saw a significant shift in identity following the

Founded in 1960, the Deutsche Schule Bombay was the realisation of a long-cherished dream of the German diaspora in the city.

The author of The Hyderabadis on the Shia roots of the Old City, the slow collapse of the Gulf dream, and whether a composite culture can survive the pressures closing in on it.

Today, India, despite global scrutiny, has maintained a principled partnership with Iran, balancing its energy and strategic interests with Western diplomacy.

In September 1914, Captain Karl von Müller, who was in charge of ‘SMS Emden’, ordered an attack on several large oil tanks in Madras—a bombardment that was a severe blow to British morale.

In 1501, Shah Isma'il the Safavid, from the Central Asian Safavid tribes, established the first Shi'i state in Iran, marking a turning point in the country's history.

Rooted in Shiism, the official religion of the Islamic Republic, martyrdom is not merely a theological concept but a powerful strand in the country’s collective memory and political imagination.

US trade with India began immediately after America’s independence from Britain in 1783, when American shipowners could trade directly with the East.

The political debate around Vande Mataram cannot be understood without revisiting Anandamath, the 1882 novel by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay that embedded the song within a larger nationalist narrative set during the 18th-century Sanyasi Rebellion.

From 1888 to 1979, ‘Capital’ reported on trade, production, taxation, infrastructure, labour relations, and politics with balanced authority and clarity.