Knowledge Archive

A place to think, not to preach.

An educational, research-oriented archive of Indian mythology, scriptures, philosophy, world history, and the books that shaped how I read them. Sources are named, claims are qualified, and mythology is kept distinct from history.

Start with a reading path

All paths →

Curated journeys through the archive — each stop links onward, so a path is a starting line, not a fence.

Beginner · ~40 min

The Two Epics

How India's two great epics dramatize duty, conflict, and conduct — a friendly entry point into the archive's ethical questions.

Intermediate · ~45 min

The Self and Liberation

A guided journey through the archive's metaphysical core — self, ultimate reality, rebirth, action, and the idea of release.

Advanced · ~50 min

Vedanta and Its Critics

Follow one of Indian philosophy's central debates — the nature of self and reality — from its textual roots to its sharpest challenge.

From the bookshelf

All books →

Currently reading

India — A History

by John Keay

Indian Philosophy

by S. Radhakrishnan

Gandhi Before India

by Ramachandra Guha

Recently completed

Rated 8/10

The Argumentative Indian

by Amartya Sen

Rated 9/10

Why Buddhism Is True

by Robert Wright

Rated 8/10

The Story of My Experiments with Truth

by M. K. Gandhi

Traditions

Vedanta

A family of interpretive schools centered on the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras, and the Bhagavad Gita.

Buddhism

A major tradition originating in ancient India, spanning many schools and cultures, with a distinctive analysis of self, suffering, and conduct.

Jainism

An ancient Indian tradition known for a rigorous ethics of non-harm and a distinctive analysis of karma and the soul.

Sikhism

A tradition originating in the Punjab in the late medieval period, emphasizing devotion, ethical living in the world, and social equality.

Samkhya

A dualist philosophical system distinguishing pure consciousness from the material world it observes, offering a genuinely different metaphysics from Vedantic non-dualism.

Nyaya

A school of formal logic and epistemology, concerned with what counts as a valid means of knowledge and how sound argument can be distinguished from sophistry.

Vaisheshika

A school of natural philosophy proposing that reality is composed of discrete atoms and can be exhaustively classified into a fixed set of basic categories.

Mimamsa

A school centered on the interpretation of Vedic ritual injunctions, holding scripture to carry authority independent of any author, human or divine.

Charvaka

A materialist school rejecting karma, rebirth, and any authority beyond direct perception, known to us almost entirely through the hostile summaries of its philosophical opponents.

Shaivism

A major devotional and philosophical tradition centered on Shiva, including an independent non-dual philosophy developed apart from the Vedantic schools this archive already covers.

Vaishnavism

A major devotional tradition centered on Vishnu, distinguished by the doctrine of avatara — divine descent into the world across cosmic time to restore right order.

Shaktism

A tradition centering the divine as dynamic, generative feminine power, offering a distinct alternative to metaphysics that treat ultimate reality as static or the manifest world as mere illusion.

Tantra

A cross-cutting family of ritual and symbolic methods found across Hindu and Buddhist traditions, widely misunderstood in popular culture as a single doctrine centered on sexuality.

Yoga Darshana

The philosophical school systematizing yoga as a disciplined path paired with Samkhya metaphysics, distinct from the broader family of practices covered under the general concept of yoga.

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Books

6 entries

Notes

12 entries

Reading Paths

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