As the Great Game repeats itself, India must wake up to Karzai’s new moves

In this pocket of Kerala, local myth fuses Goddess Bhagavati and Mother Mary into family

Naipaul's new book traverses old ground, his journey unto himself is but an ego trip, the sharp edge of his writing has turned bitter. Where's VS as we knew him?

The British Museum celebrates India at 60 in a show of Indian art patronised by Brits before the Raj

A subtle rebuke to those who like to see the relationship between the Christian and Islamic world exclusively and simplistically in terms of jihads and crusades, clashes, violence and destruction.

Two new books exemplify the polarised debate: one claims the British Empire was comparable to slavery and fascism; while for the other, the Victorian administrators of the Indian Civil Service, far from being oppressive exploiters, in fact "represented the British Empire at its best and most altruistic".

William Dalrymple grants Naipaul his eminence, but challenges his jaundiced notions of Indian history