Greetings & Welcome

Greetings and welcome to my substack, Akhi’s Archives. Please read, share, and subscribe! This is the home of my blog posts, musings, research, and thoughts.

I considered some alternative names for my blog. One was “Oikumenic Lore” in honor of my first blog, from long ago, “Oikumene Eurasia.” Like this blog, “Oikumene Eurasia” mostly focused on the history, culture, and politics of the major civilizations and countries of the Eurasian landmass. “Oikumene” comes from an Ancient Greek word meaning the inhabited or civilized world. Another runner-up name for this substack was “Caravanserai Chronicles.” Caravanserais were roadside inns, mostly in the Middle East, Central Asia, the Balkans, and India.

Here, I’ll be writing about the histories, geopolitics, and cultures—both old and contemporary—of the places and peoples that interest me, mostly the Indian Subcontinent (South Asia), Southeast Asia, East Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East & North Africa, and Europe. These places have been interconnected for millennia. The Old World, Eurasian “oikumene,” so to speak.

My experience of the world is characterized by awe and curiosity, and I want to convey some of that in my writing here. The world is strewn with the artifacts—some ruined, some intact—and stories of so many peoples and civilizations. Human history is a poem writ upon the face of the earth. The words of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley often come to mind when one journeys through the land:

“My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!”

Yet, while empires rise and fall, we still have their buildings, their ruins, and their literature to admire today.

You can check out my professional website, which includes links to my published articles and media appearances, over here.