Media Analysis as a Tool for Indological Research: A Critical Discourse Perspective

Abstract

Abstract

An underexplored area in Indology is the potential impact of contemporary media narratives on understanding Indian history and culture. What is portrayed in today's media, including news, films, and social media posts, has the power to significantly shape the Indology of tomorrow. The present study utilizes critical discourse analysis as its methodological framework to scrutinize how language, power, and ideology intersect within media texts, revealing the underlying biases and assumptions that shape public perception and historical narratives. By focusing on three case studies—the Aryan Invasion Theory, the portrayal of Emperors Ashoka and Akbar, and the narratives surrounding Dr. B R Ambedkar and Mother Teresa—this paper explores how historical events and figures are reinterpreted and represented in contemporary media, influencing not only the cultural consciousness and collective memory but also interpretation of Indological sources themselves. The findings suggest that media analysis is not merely a complementary tool but an essential component of Indological studies.

References

Adluri, V., & Bagchee, J. (2014). The Nay-Science: A History of German Indology. Oxford University Press, USA.

Berry, D. M. (2012). Introduction: Understanding the digital humanities. In Understanding digital humanities (pp. 1-20). London: Palgrave Macmillan UK.

Bhandarkar, D. R. (1925). Asoka. University of Calcutta.

Bharti, N. (2017). Guru–Shishya tradition of India vs. the fake baba phenomenon. India Foundation Journal, 5(6), 38–39. https://indiafoundation.in/india-foundation-journal-novdec-2017final

Blommaert, J., & Bulcaen, C.(2000). Critical discourse analysis. Annual review of Anthropology, 29(1), 447-466.

Cabrera, L. (2021). Ambedkar on the haughty face of dignity. Politics and Religion, 14(1), 83-105.

Carlson, R., & Shield, B. (2008). Handbook for the Spirit. New World Library.

Chattopadhyaya, D.& Gangopadhyaya, M. (1967). Nyaya Philosophy: Literal Translation of Gautama’s Nyayasutra and Vatsyayana’s Bhashya. Indian Studies.

Danino, M. (2012). The Harappan Legacy. BBC Knowledge, 54-57.

de Roover, J. (2015). Europe, India, and the Limits of Secularism. Oxford University Press.

Elst, K. (2004). Linguistic Aspects of the Aryan Non-Invasion Theory. In The Indo-Aryan Controversy (pp. 234-281). Routledge.

Eraly, A. (2003). The Mughal Throne: The Saga of India's Great Emperors. Weidenfeld & Nicolson.

Fairclough, N. (2013). Critical discourse analysis. In The Routledge handbook of discourse analysis (pp. 9-20). Routledge.

Galileo Commission Report. (2019). Beyond a materialist worldview: Towards an expanded science. Scientific and Medical Network. https://galileocommission.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Science-Beyond-A-Materialist-World-View_compressed.pdf

Hart, M. H. (1978). The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History. Hart Publishing company.

Hitchens, C. (2012). The missionary position: Mother Teresa in theory and practice. Atlantic Books Ltd.

Joseph, T. (2021). Early Indians: The Story of Our Ancestors and Where We Came From. Juggernaut.

Kannan, K. S. (2018). Western Indology & Its Quest for Power: Proceedings of the Swadeshi Indology Conference Series. Infinity Foundation India.

Keer, D. (2016). Dr. Ambedkar: Life and Mission. Popular Prakashan.

Kenoyer, J. M. (1995). Interaction systems, specialised crafts and culture change: The Indus Valley Tradition and the Indo-Gangetic Tradition in South Asia. The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia, 213-257.

Keppens, M., & De Roover, J. (2014). Orientalism and the puzzle of the Aryan invasion theory. Pragmata: Journal of Human Sciences, 2(2), 51-76.

Lahiri, N. (1925). Ashoka in Ancient India. Harvard University Press.

Madan, T. N. (1987). Secularism in its place. The journal of Asian studies, 46(4), 747-759.

Mukhopadhyay, S. (2019). Yogic Perceptions of Aryan-Dravidian Controversy. In S. Narayanan (Ed.), Proceedings of Swadeshi Indology Conference Series: Fount of Culture (pp. 245-260). Infinity Foundation India.

Mukhopadhyay, S. (2025). Ashoka the Ungreat: A Legacy of Lies, Propaganda and Political Mythmaking. nTropi.

Narasimhan, V. M., et al. (2019). The formation of human populations in South and Central Asia. Science, 365(6457), eaat7487. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat7487

Phelan, S. (2017). Critical discourse analysis and media studies. In The Routledge handbook of critical discourse studies (pp. 285-297). Routledge.

Rajendran, C. (2011). Towards a more inclusive Indology: Problems and Prospects. Acta Universitatis Carolinae Philologica, (1), 17-24.

Reich, D., et al. (2009). Reconstructing Indian population history. Nature, 461(7263), 489-494. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature08365

Sapp, J. (2014). Commentary: Genotype does not determine phenotype. International Journal of Epidemiology, 43(4), 1000–1002. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyu064

Schulte, K. (2023). Indo-European languages: new study reconciles two dominant hypotheses about their origin. The Conversation. Retrieved July 1, 2025, from https://theconversation.com/indo-european-languages-new-study-reconciles-two-dominant-hypotheses-about-theirorigin-216098

Sebba, A. (1997). Mother Teresa: Beyond the Image. Doubleday.

Shinde, V., et al. (2019). An ancient Harappan genome lacks ancestry from steppe pastoralists or Iranian farmers. Cell, 179(3), 729-735. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2019.08.048

Talageri, S. (2019). Genetics and the Aryan debate: "Early Indians" Tony Joseph's Latest Assault. Voice of India.

Taylor, P., & Lewontin, R. (2021). The genotype/phenotype distinction. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2021 Edition). Retrieved July 1, 2025, from https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2021/entries/genotype-phenotype

van Dijk, T. A. (2015). Critical discourse analysis. In D. Tannen, H. E. Hamilton, & D. Schiffrin (Eds.), The handbook of discourse analysis (2nd ed., pp. 466–485). John Wiley & Sons.

Voytek, B. (2016). The virtuous cycle of a data ecosystem. PLoS computational biology, 12(8), e1005037. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005037

Wang, N. (2022). The rise of a new paradigm of literary studies: The challenge of digital humanities. New Techno Humanities, 2 (1), 28-33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techum.2022.11.001

Yakel, E., Faniel, I. M., & Maiorana, Z. J. (2019). Virtuous and vicious circles in the data life-cycle. Information Research, 24(2). University of Borås, Sweden. Retrieved from https://informationr.net/ir/24-2/paper821.html