कोशिश गोल्ड - मुक्त
Is Lingayat a Caste or a Religion?
The New Indian Express Villupuram
|October 12, 2025
The Lingayat community today insists it is a separate religion. They refuse to be placed within the Veerashaiva fold, or being seen as a subset of Hinduism. This demand has upset those who seek to unite Hinduism under a single umbrella by referring to it as 'sanatan dharma'.

A deeper, less political, issue here lies in the very word religion, an English word introduced to India by the British in the 18th century, and used by even academically trained historians as if it is a timeless phenomenon, rather irresponsibly and casually.
The Europeans had no concept of religion in the 15th century. You were either Christian or not. Wars between Protestants and Catholics through the 17th century forced the Europeans to acknowledge the existence of many religions i.e., sects of Christianity. But in the 19th century, the meaning of religion changed dramatically.
European powers, who came on war ships, demanded "freedom of religion" so they could build churches in Japan that had isolated itself for nearly 300 years. The Japanese court did not understand this wordreligion. After much debate,
Japanese scholars concluded that there were three categories. First was religion, something you could convert into or out of, like Buddhism and Christianity. Second was superstition, the folk practices of rural communities, dismissed as unscientific. And third was ethnic practice, where one is born into it-like Shinto. Indians did not have the luxury of choosing the definition of religion. It was imposed upon them by British rulers.
यह कहानी The New Indian Express Villupuram के October 12, 2025 संस्करण से ली गई है।
हजारों चुनिंदा प्रीमियम कहानियों और 10,000 से अधिक पत्रिकाओं और समाचार पत्रों तक पहुंचने के लिए मैगज़्टर गोल्ड की सदस्यता लें।
क्या आप पहले से ही ग्राहक हैं? साइन इन करें
The New Indian Express Villupuram से और कहानियाँ
The New Indian Express Villupuram
Two dons-turned-politicians draw battle lines on Mokama poll turf
BATTLE lines have been drawn in Bihar’s Mokama assembly constituency ahead of the first-phase polls on November 6, as two don-turned-politicians, Anant Singh and Surajbhan Singh, prepare for a high-octane electoral clash.
2 mins
October 22, 2025
The New Indian Express Villupuram
A RIVER REMEMBERS: MEANDERING MEMORY OF WATER
BENEATH the calm surface of a river lies an ancient intelligence — one that remembers every bend, flood, and wandering path it has ever carved through the Earth.
2 mins
October 22, 2025
The New Indian Express Villupuram
EC: Print ads a day before or poll date need pre-certification
AHEAD of assembly polls in Bihar, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday issued an order saying to ensure a fair campaign environment, no party, candidate, organisation or person shall publish any advertisement in print media on poll day and one day prior to the poll day, unless the contents are pre-certified by the Media Certification and Monitoring Committee.
1 min
October 22, 2025
The New Indian Express Villupuram
7 Punjab youths duped in Kazakhstan, appeal for help
SEVEN young men from Punjab’s Ropar district are stranded in Kazakhstan after a local travel agent allegedly duped them by promising high-paying jobs as drivers.
1 mins
October 22, 2025
The New Indian Express Villupuram
Applications invited under TN’s Breadwinner Scheme
THE school education department has allocated ₹11.17 crore for the Breadwinner Scheme, under which financial assistance of ₹50,000 to ₹75,000 is provided to students whose earning parent has either passed away or become disabled in an accident.
1 min
October 22, 2025
The New Indian Express Villupuram
Paraglider from Canada found dead, Australian rescued in HP
A 27-year-old Canadian paraglider, Megan Elizabeth, was found dead after going missing from the high mountains of the Dhauladhar range, while a 47year-old Australian paraglider, Jacob, was rescued in the last 48 hours.
1 min
October 22, 2025

The New Indian Express Villupuram
MP uses chopper-driven technique to protect crops from blackbucks
THE Madhya Pradesh forest department has initiated a helicopter-driven boma technique to capture herds of blackbucks and neelgais and shift them to wildlife sanctuaries and tiger reserves of the state.
1 mins
October 22, 2025
The New Indian Express Villupuram
Speaker appoints lawyer to assist panel probing Justice Varma graft case
LOK Sabha Speaker Om Birla has appointed advocate Karan Umesh Salvi as a consultant to assist the judges’ inquiry committee investigating allegations of corruption against Justice Yashwant Varma.
1 min
October 22, 2025
The New Indian Express Villupuram
WASTE LAND: A NATION OF LANDFILLS
SOME years ago, I was editing a newspaper in Mumbai and we ran a report on the city’s eternal garbage problem.
3 mins
October 22, 2025

The New Indian Express Villupuram
FIR against former Punjab DGP, ex-minister wife over son’s death
FORMER Punjab DGP Mohammad Mustafa, his wife and former minister Razia Sultana, along with their daughter and daughter-in-law, have been booked for murder and criminal conspiracy by Haryana Police in connection with the death of their 35-year-old son, Agil Akhter.
1 mins
October 22, 2025
Listen
Translate
Change font size