Incarnations

Synopsis

The lives and afterlives of 50 incredible Indian people from ancient India to the 21st century'Essential... whoppingly aurally intense' New Statesman'... makes the mind fly across time, place and history. You may smile as, mentally, you walk alongside Khilnani up some flinty slope. You will keep thinking about what he said long after.' The TelegraphHistorian Sunil Khilnani, Professor of History and Politics at Ashoka University, takes listeners on an immersive, whirlwind journey from ancient India to the 21st century through the life stories of 50 remarkable individuals, exploring their surprising legacies and illuminating both the wonders and the urgent conflicts of India today.From the 5th century grammarian Panini, a pioneer in algorithmic thinking, to the wandering poetess Mirabai, challenger of the gender and caste order; from Malik Ambar, a 16th century north African who became a Deccan kingmaker, to Dhirubhai Ambani, the 20th century entrepreneur whose son now ranks among the world's richest billionaires; from Lakshmibai, the 19th century queen who enjoyed weightlifting, wrestling and steeplechasing, and who became a lightning rod for India's attitudes to women, to the contemporary painter M.F. Husain, who shaped a distinctive Indian modernism; Khilnani brings to life an extraordinary panorama of India's most revealing and resonant lives.Guests featured include Javed Akhtar, one of the great songwriters of Indian cinema, renowned actress Sharmila Tagore, historian Romila Thapar, poet Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, artists Howard Hodgkin and Bharti Kher, Nobel prize-winning economist Amartya Sen, author and political activist Arundhati Roy, and Sanskrit scholar Sheldon Pollock.With the help of these experts, Khilnani investigates the lives of political strategists and social reformers, filmmakers and farmers, mathematicians and religious gurus, warriors and saints, artists and slaves, industry titans and freedom fighters, who have co-existed in a country bound together by its people, in all their differences and commonalities. The chosen lives conjure up an India full of relevance and infinite range, celebrating the variety of the country in all its diversity of thought, religion, politics and art.Production creditsPresented by Sunil KhilnaniProduced by Mark Savage, Jeremy Grange and Martin WilliamsEditor: Hugh LevinsonMusic composed by: Talvin SinghResearcher: Manu PillaiExecutive Producer: Martin SmithFirst broadcast BBC Radio 4 on the following dates:The Buddha: 11 May 2015Mahavira: 12 May 2015Panini: 13 May 2015Kautilya: 14 May 2015Ashoka: 15 May 2015Charaka: 18 May 2015Aryabhata: 19 May 2015Shankaracharya: 20 May 2015Rajaraja Chola: 21 May 2015Basavana: 22 May 2015Amir Khusro: 25 May 2015Kabir: 26 May 2015Guru Nanak: 27 May 2015Krishnadevaraya: 28 May 2015Mirabai: 29 May 2015Akbar: 1 June 2015Malik Ambar: 2 June 2015Dara Shikoh: 3 June 2015Shivaji: 4 June 2015Nainsukh: 5 June 2015William Jones: 8 June 2015Rammohan Roy: 9 June 2015Lakshmibai, Rani of Jhansi: 10 June 2015Jyotirao Phule: 11 June 2015Birsa Munda: 12 June 2015Deen Dayal: 26 July 2021Jamsetji Tata: 27 July 2021Vivekananda: 28 July 2021Annie Besant: 29 July 2021Chidambaram Pillai: 30 July 2021Ramanujan: 2 August 2021Tagore: 3 August 2021Visvesvaraya: 4 August 2021Periyar: 5 August 2021Iqbal: 6 August 2021Amrita Sher-Gil: 9 August 2021Subhas Chandra Bose: 10 August 2021Gandhi: 11 August 2021Jinnah: 12 August 2021Manto: 13 August 2021Bhimrao Ambedkar: 16 August 2021Raj Kapoor: 17 August 2021Sheikh Abdullah: 18 August 2021Krishna Menon: 19 August 2021Subbulakshmi: 20 August 2021Indira Gandhi: 23 August 2021Satyajit Ray: 24 August 2021Charan Singh: 25 August 2021MF Husain: 26 August 2021Dhirubhai Ambani: 27 August 2021© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.