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Shashi Tharoor, Arundhathi Subramaniam | Why I Am a Hindu | Jaipur Literature Festival

4,611 views · Published 1 February 2018 · 1:02:57 · Indexed 21 September 2026

Channel: Jaipur Literature Festival · 2018 · Travel & Events

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Why I Am a Hindu: Shashi Tharoor, Arundhathi Subramaniam

Shashi Tharoor, a third-term Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram, is the bestselling author of 20 fiction and non-fiction books. He is a former Under Secretary-General of the United Nations and a former Minister of State for Human Resource Development and for External Affairs in the Government of India. He has won numerous awards, including the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, a Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and the Crossword Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2019, Dr. Tharoor was also awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award for his book An Era of Darkness. He chairs Parliament’s Standing Committee on Information Technology.

Arundhathi Subramaniam is the award-winning author of eleven books of poetry and prose. Described as ‘one of the finest poets writing in India today’, her recent volume, When God is a Traveller, won the inaugural Khushwant Singh Award, was selected as the Season Choice of the Poetry Book Society and shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize.

Why I Am a Hindu 
In his new book Why I Am a Hindu, writer and politician Shashi Tharoor delves deep into the spiritual traditions and philosophy of the religion and presents his own understanding and convictions . From the 'Hinduism of habit' practised by ordinary believers to manifestations of political Hinduism , from the Great Souls such as Patanjali , Adi Shankaracharya , Ramanuja, Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Swami Vivekananda to the lessons of the Gita , he speaks of the essence of Hinduism and its vital contribution to a plural and secular democracy. A fascinating and free-flowing session with Tharoor in discussion with poet Arundhathi Subramaniam on one of the world's oldest and greatest religions. Followed by the unwrapping ofTharoor's book by Nayantara Sahgal.
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THE JAIPUR LITERATURE FESTIVAL 
Described as the 'greatest literary show on Earth', the Jaipur Literature Festival is a sumptuous feast of ideas. 

The past decade has seen it transform into a global literary phenomenon having hosted nearly 2000 speakers and welcoming over a million book lovers from across India and the globe. Our core values remain unchanged: to serve as a democratic, non-aligned platform offering free and fair access. 

Every year, the Festival brings together a diverse mix of the world's greatest writers, thinkers, humanitarians, politicians, business leaders, sports people and entertainers on one stage to champion the freedom to express and engage in thoughtful debate and dialogue. 

Festival Co Directors Namita Gokhale and William Dalrymple, alongside Producer Sanjoy K Roy and Teamwork Arts, create a platform for an array of speakers to debate, discuss and present their ideas in the annual five-day programme set against the backdrop of Rajasthan's stunning cultural heritage and the Diggi Palace in the state capital Jaipur. 

Past speakers have ranged from Nobel Laureates His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama,  J.M. Coetzee, Muhammad Yunus  and Orhan Pamuk, Man Booker Prize winners Ben Okri, Howard Jacobson, Margaret Atwood, Marlon James, Michael Ondaatje, Paul Beatty and Yan Martel, Pulitzer Prize winners Andrew Sean Greer,  Benjamin Moser, Colson Whitehead and Jhumpa Lahiri, Sahitya Akademi winners Gulzar, Javed Akhtar, M.T. Vasudevan Nair as well as the late Girish Karnad, Mahasweta Devi and U.R. Ananthamurthy along with literary luminaries including Amish Tripathi, Chima¬manda Ngozi Adichie, Vikram Chandra and Vikram Seth. An annual event that goes beyond literature, the Festival has also hosted Amartya Sen, Amitabh Bachchan, the late A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Oprah Winfrey, Stephen Fry, Thomas Piketty and former president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai.

The Jaipur Literature Festival is a flagship event of Teamwork Arts, which produces over 33 highly acclaimed performing arts, visual arts and literary festivals across more than 40 cities globally.

Link to our website: https://www.jaipurliteraturefestival.org
Link to Jaipur Literature Festival 2018 sessions: https://bit.ly/3bZZgaD

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