Can India’s most ancient sacred stories survive another generation of colonial filters? Author Anjesh makes the case — and the Rigveda holds his evidence.
Speaking at ICF’s Sacred Tales for a New Generation, Anjesh recounts how reading the Rigveda shattered everything his academic training in Ancient Indian History had taught him. The ICHR, established in 1972, had prescribed colonial-mindset English sources as official historical references — bypassing original Sanskrit texts entirely. His pivotal discovery: the Rigveda mentions a city called “Hariyupia,” which growing scholarship now identifies as Harappa itself — proving that Harappan and Vedic civilizations were never two separate entities but one unbroken indigenous civilization. The artificial 300-year gap colonial historians inserted between them, he argues, has no scientific basis and was deliberately constructed to impose a European invasion narrative on Indian soil.
To bridge sacred knowledge and ordinary readers, Anjesh wrote a faction novel — threading Rigvedic mantra-facts through accessible fiction, with each chapter citing the specific mantra numbers that inspired it. He also draws a sharp cultural contrast: Disney and Marvel have made Mickey Mouse and Batman global icons through great marketing, while Ram and Krishna — with far richer narratives — have not received the same reach. His solution, and the mission of ICF’s Sacred Tales series, is to retell India’s stories for every new generation through original texts, not colonial-filtered textbooks, before civilizational memory is lost again.
About the Speaker
Kushagra Singh is a civil engineer, former theatre artist, certified clinical hypnotherapist, and a 500-hour registered yoga teacher. With a deep-rooted passion for spirituality, he conducts meditation and Vedic storytelling sessions, bringing to life the wisdom of the Ramayana, Mahabharata and Bhagavad Gita. A devotee of Bhagavan Krishna, he finds joy in sharing stories that inspire reflection and inner transformation. The author of Wisdom From The Smiling Panda, Kushagra Singh’s second book is a tribute to Lord Hanuman’s inspiring character and devotion. Through his writing, he seeks to bridge ancient wisdom with contemporary life, encouraging readers to embark on their own journey of self-discovery and growth.
Anjesh Barnwal was born in the year 1973 in a merchant family of the Vaishya community. After receiving primary education in his home district Deoria, his secondary education was completed in schools situated in Uttarakhand and Haryana. After completing graduation and post-graduation level education from Lucknow University, he was selected in the Civil Services Examination of the state of Uttar Pradesh of the year 1999, as a consequence of which his entry into government service took place in the year 2001.
As a result of the influence of the many persons who came into contact — directly or indirectly — during his lifetime, and being inspired by circumstances born of nation, time, and era, alongside the discharge of his governmental responsibilities, in the year 2020 he took the resolve to pick up the pen, and today he stands before you as a writer. His journey as a writer commenced with the novel series ‘Sangacchadhvam’, the first volume of which, ‘Sindhu Tat Ka Anam Gaon’ (The Nameless Village on the Bank of the Indus), was published in the year 2022. As the next stage of this journey, the second volume of this novel series is now presented before you.
