MUMBAI // Businessmen may blame global troubles or inept governance, but a Hindu guru has an alternative theory for the historic weakness of the rupee: the newly adopted symbol for the currency is inauspicious. Rajkumar Jhanjhari, an expert in the ancient doctrine of vastu shastra, has called for a new design, arguing that a line on the symbol has "slit the throat" of the rupee and sparked the country's financial ...

South Indian or Carnatic music has a hoary history that dates back to the Vedas, ancient Sanskrit works that form the foundation of the Hindu religion. This music flowered in the 18th century around the temple towns of Tamil Nadu when three composers - Thyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar and Syama Sastry - created hundreds of songs in praise of Hindu deities.