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Anirudh Kanisetti

@anirbuddha

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History isn't over. Humanity will win. I explore medieval India to inform you and challenge propaganda. Column @theprintindia. Winner @sahityakademi.

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A thousand years ago, the Cholas would have painted the walls of the colossal Brihadishvara temple at Thanjavur in bright shades of yellow, red and blue. Over the centuries, the temple lost its vivid colour palette, but we set out to reimagine what it might once have looked like — here’s how.

To hear more about piety, patronage and power under the Cholas, join us in a conversation with author and historian Anirudh Kanisetti in our upcoming MAP Academy Live, ‘Lords of Earth and Sea: Revisiting the Chola Empire’, on 27th February 2025, Thursday, at 7:00 pm IST via Zoom.

Click on the link in our bio to register for the talk!

Get your copy of the book now, available on @juggernaut.in by @anirbuddha

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The Deccan is a VAST landmass - but how many of you can name 5 Deccan emperors who aren't Marathas? I delve into the fascinating and much neglected history of the region from 600-1100 in my critically-acclaimed new book "Lords of the Deccan: Southern India from the Chalukyas to the Cholas". This land is so vast, it's time we tell its stories well. Maps by @geopoliticsdude. ALSO WHY DOESN'T INSTA ALLOW ME TO MAKE 60 SECOND REELS. #southindia #southindianhistory #bookstagram #lordsofthedeccan #bookstagramindia #nonfiction #historyofindia #history #deccan by @anirbuddha

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Read. by @anirbuddha

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'Barely a few hours’ drive from a frontier of the Myanmar civil war, in a dark corridor covered in bat droppings, are the most glorious surviving murals produced by medieval Bengali artists.

They cover the wall from floor to ceiling, still retaining some of their lustre. You can still make out—in the delicate black outlines, the deftly-painted fingers, the painstakingly rendered textiles—the hands of several master artists.

How did these painters end up so far from home? And how did their work survive here, in politically unstable Myanmar, when no traces remain in West Bengal and Bangladesh?'

Head towards Lnk.bio for the full column by author and historian, Anirudh Kanisetti (@anirbuddha)

#cavepaintings #bengalihistory #bengaliart #myanmar by @anirbuddha

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Snippets from a spectacular session on mediaeval history and archaeology where public historian @anirbuddha is talking about Hero Stones.

The link to the session is in Bio

#HistLitFest #historylitfest #indianhistory #hlf2026 by @anirbuddha

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17 days ago

Up until the 13th century, Delhi was known as Yogini-Pura. These yoginis were respected and feared for doing exactly what mainstream Indian society frowns on today: drinking, eating meat, flying about at all times of day and night.

“Women (nārīs) should not be condemned or insulted, and one should not yell at them or lie to them… even if a woman commits a hundred crimes, she should never be struck, even with a flower.” (Kularnava Tantra)

Yogini temples were circular: Bhairava at the centre, typically sixty-four goddesses facing him. Some consume offerings of flesh, blood, liquor, or bodily fluids. Others wield weapons. Not all seem human: they possess the faces of asses, lionesses, sows, and elephants. This was once India’s pre-eminent esoteric cult for royal initiates.

The image of women free to come and go as they wished, capable of inflicting victory and defeat, of consuming what they wanted and rejecting those who did not respect them, is stirring even today.

But yoginis, like Indian goddesses throughout history, were not respected so much for who they were as what they could give (mostly male) devotees — or how they might punish them. Women were rarely the central practitioners or gurus of yogini cults: “men remained front and centre.

Later, states shifted patronage to respectable, vegetarian male gods with more pliant devotees. The yoginis were pressed into meditative diagrams and mantras, accessories to ritual, rather than goddesses in their own right.

At Hirapur and other Yogini shrines, locals insist the Mughals destroyed the temple. But the inscriptions are severely mutilated: almost certainly by people who could read them and object, rather than by foreign invaders. It is equally possible that the yoginis eventually faced what autonomous Indian women have throughout history — a violent patriarchal backlash, followed by centuries of moralising discourse to erase almost all traces of who they once were.

The City of Yoginis is marching. Join the protests at Jantar Mantar! by @anirbuddha

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India today is dotted with the ruins of circular temples that don’t seem to fit any of today’s religious traditions. They have no towering spires or domes. Instead, at their centre is a shrine to Bhairava, the fierce form of Shiva. Facing him, set into the circular wall, are goddesses, typically 64. Some consume offerings of flesh, blood, liquor, or bodily fluids. Others wield weapons. Not all seem human: they possess the faces of asses, lionesses, sows, and elephants.

If not for the fact that one of the greatest of these temples — the Chausath Yogini temple at Mitaoli, Madhya Pradesh — partially inspired India’s old Parliament building, the tradition that they represent might as well come from an alien planet.

Head towards Lnk.bio to read full story by Anirudh Kanisetti (@anirbuddha)

#india #yoginis by @anirbuddha

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17 days ago

At today’s Monday Morning Lecture on Zoom, public historian and author Anirudh Kanisetti delivered an inspiring lecture on the movement of Indians across the ancient and medieval world. 🌏

Drawing on diverse evidence — from the Book of Wonders, scriptures, paintings and architecture of Dunhuang and Beijing, to stories from West and Southeast Asia and India’s rock-cut caves — Anirudh challenged conventional narratives of the Indian traveller. Through fascinating stories of deportees, giraffe diplomacy, and a magical drug-peddling entertainer, he invited us to reimagine travellers as adventurers, pilgrims, deportees, and traders. ✨

Many thanks to Anirudh for sharing his fascinating ideas with our MML audience! by @anirbuddha

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a month ago

What was the true character of ancient Indian travel? Public historian Anirudh Kanisetti presents ideas from his upcoming book, arguing that Indian mercenaries, pilgrims, deportees, alchemists, and entertainers may have had a much greater role in premodern voyages than we otherwise think.

This lecture is on zoom. Sign up via our website:
www.fom.sg > Public Events

About FOM’s Monday Morning Lecture:
Our lecture series explores the rich history, art, religion, philosophy, and culture of Asia. 🕌🎨
#fomsg #mml #acm #india by @anirbuddha

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After the monsoon break, Sampan's Speaker Series returns with Anirudh Kanisetti in Yangon this month, exploring the ancient and often overlooked connections between Myanmar and India.

For over a millennium, Myanmar and India were crucial players in the world of the Bay of Bengal. Anirudh’s talk will trace how shifting empires and kingdoms forged connections across the ocean, and explore the kingdoms of Arakan and Manipur as forgotten crossroads in a network that stretched from Persia to Japan.

Anirudh will explore the maritime connections between the Court of Bagan and the Chola Empire; the weapons trade between Mrauk U and India’s eastern coast; the Arakan Kingdom’s invasion of Mughal Bengal in the 1600s; and the Burmese occupation of Manipur in the 1820s.

Contact us at amy(at)sampantravel.com if you would like to join this event.

More information here:
https://www.sampantravel.com/journeys/speaker-series/

Photo of Mrauk U by Marie Starr taken in Yangon, Myanmar by @anirbuddha

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Author & Historian Anirudh Kanisetti takes listeners back to the history of Odisha and how it shaped Medieval India at #OLF2026, in his session "Odisha and the Medieval World: A Snapshot," moderated by senior journalist Kaveree Bamzai.

@adityabirlagrp @PrabhuChawla @NehaSonthaliaP1 @santwanabhatt @NewIndianXpress @Eventxpress @XpressOdisha

#OdishaLitFestival2026 #14YearsOfOLF #ResurgenceOfTheWord #StoriesOfOurTime #OLF2026 by @anirbuddha

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Odisha and the Medieval World: A Snapshot

Step into Odisha’s rich medieval past with Anirudh Kanisetti, Author & Historian, as he explores the region’s history, culture and place in the wider medieval world.

Moderated by Kaveree Bamzai, Senior Journalist, this promises an engaging journey through stories that shaped Odisha and beyond.

@adityabirlagrp @PrabhuChawla @NehaSonthaliaP1 @santwanabhatt @NewIndianXpress @Eventxpress @XpressOdisha

#OdishaLitFestival2026 #14YearsOfOLF #ResurgenceOfTheWord #StoriesOfOurTime #OLF2026 #MedievalHistory #HistoryTalk #AnirudhKanisetti by @anirbuddha

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