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Rakesh Khanna

@blaftrakesh.bsky.social

650 followers 430 following 850 posts

(any/all) Books, ghosts, math, marine invertebrates. Co-founder & editor @blaft.bsky.social. Author of Ghosts, Monsters, and Demons of India https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738269/ghosts-monsters-and-demons-of-india-by-rakesh-khanna/

www.penguinrandomhouse.com

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Rakesh Khanna @blaftrakesh.bsky.social · Apr 13

I edited/co-edited two anthologies that came out in December:

The Blaft Book of Anti-Caste SF

and

The Blaft Anthology of Gujarati Pulp Fiction

Buy them here!

www.blaft.com/collections/...

www.blaft.com/collections/...

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Reposted by Rakesh Khanna

mānas @manas-0.bsky.social · 1d

Don't watch Gandhi

Never watch Gandhi

Study Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar

Asha Rangappa @asharangappa.bsky.social · 1d

We’re in a moment now where it would be worth people taking three hours to watch Gandhi, particularly the scene of the salt march. There is value to making the brutality of your opponent so plain as day that no one can argue with it. The clarity of that brought down an empire

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Rakesh Khanna @blaftrakesh.bsky.social · 1d

Ambedkar getting completely edited out of that screenplay is up there with Disney's Pocohantas in egregious Hollywood historical distortions

Rakesh Khanna @blaftrakesh.bsky.social · 1d

Map of Texas showing location of Norment

Rakesh Khanna @blaftrakesh.bsky.social · 1d

If yougaiz do Instagram I really hope you are following @artwhoring's crusade against bullshit plagiarist AI slop peddlers in the Indian art world. She's also linking to a slew of incredible real deal artists you can support instead of the sloppers. The woman is a national treasure!

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Rakesh Khanna @blaftrakesh.bsky.social · 2d

Good morning new followers! I'm an editor & occasional author w/ @blaft.bsky.social. We have 2 new titles out this month (weird horror antho + anti-caste stories translated from Marathi). Check out our work:

www.blaft.com/collections/...

Free Palestine 🇵🇸, fight bigotry 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️✊🏽, support indie creators

Bandigoat: A Collection of Strange & Horrible Tales

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Rakesh Khanna @blaftrakesh.bsky.social · 2d

& I'll keep you in the loop if @fabulatrix.bsky.social, Sirus and Gautamiputra get anywhere with the English translation :-)

Rakesh Khanna @blaftrakesh.bsky.social · 2d

Will check out for sure!

Rakesh Khanna @blaftrakesh.bsky.social · 2d

Thank you! Will contact for sure!!

Rakesh Khanna @blaftrakesh.bsky.social · 2d

Yes! I can't remember if yours was the first article I read about it, but it's definitely the one that sent me to John Strong! Thanks so much!!

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Rakesh Khanna @blaftrakesh.bsky.social · 2d

We'll see!

Rakesh Khanna @blaftrakesh.bsky.social · 2d

Hope you enjoy! It was loads of fun to put together!

Rakesh Khanna @blaftrakesh.bsky.social · 3d

It's too real
rashmivj9286.medium.com/do-you-know-...

Rakesh Khanna @blaftrakesh.bsky.social · 3d

What is it with hiding stuff in your thigh fr? I've found this in a bunch of Indian folktales

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Rakesh Khanna @blaftrakesh.bsky.social · 3d

Oh look, @fabulatrix.bsky.social is here

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Rakesh Khanna @blaftrakesh.bsky.social · 3d

Unfortunately no I think.

Rakesh Khanna @blaftrakesh.bsky.social · 3d

Thank you! 😁 Hope you enjoy! Always carry some mustard seed! And a piece of iron!

Rakesh Khanna @blaftrakesh.bsky.social · 3d

There's another couple of pages! The guy dies and his son takes his corpse back to Magadh and they remove data chip from his thigh and build the robots. Then Emperor Ashoka comes into the story, w/ elephant.

But I was working from synopses, didn't have translation. We may know more shortly!

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Rakesh Khanna @blaftrakesh.bsky.social · 3d

This story seems to be making other people grin too, so in case you're in the mood for more wacky South Asian ghostlore:

www.blaft.com/products/gho...

Int'l edition:

www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738269...

Ghosts, Monsters, and Demons of India

by J. Furcifer Bhairav and Rakesh Khanna 456 pages. 8.25" x 5.5". 600 g Paperback ISBN: 9789380636467 An encyclopedia of evil entities and folkloric fiends from across the country, from Ladakh to Laks...

www.blaft.com

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Rakesh Khanna @blaftrakesh.bsky.social · 3d

Haha awesome

Rakesh Khanna @blaftrakesh.bsky.social · 3d

the transnational multilingual geekiness of this whole endeavour just has me grinning ear to ear

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Rakesh Khanna @blaftrakesh.bsky.social · 3d

Romanised version of the Pali manuscript annotated in French, & now we're trying to get the Pali translated into English, which we're doing with the help of a Marathi translator and a Marathi author who's been studying Pali as part of his interest in Navayana Buddhism, & (2/3)

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Rakesh Khanna @blaftrakesh.bsky.social · 3d

When I was researching my book Ghosts, Monsters, and Demons of India, I learned of a 1000-year-old myth about Roman tech being used to build killer robots to guard the Buddha's remains in Pataliputra, and a Hungarian folklorist read my book & got excited about it, & she managed to dig up a🧵(1/3)

Romanised Pali manuscript of the Lokapannati

Ghosts, Monsters, and Demons of India
p. 60
Bhoota Vahana Yanta
Bhoota Vahana Yanta means “spirit movement machine.” The term is used
for several varieties of robot drone assassins and sword-wielding machine-
men mentioned in the Lokapannati, a Pali-language text written between
1000 and 1200 CE by Saddhammaghosa of Thaton, but concerning
events that took place much earlier, around 500 to 200 BCE.
According to the story, robots were first invented by engineers of the
early Roman Republic. These robots were used for commerce, in agriculture,
as a police force, and as executioners. The secret of how to build these
spirit-engines was fiercely protected. If any engineer dared to take the designs
out of the city, one of his own executioner robots would come after
him and kill him.
At that time, in Pataliputra (then in the kingdom of Magadha, now
Patna in the state of Bihar), there lived a young man who had heard of the
Romans’ magical androids. He became so determined to learn the secrets
of their manufacture and share them with the people of Magadha that he
arranged his own death. Then, on his deathbed, he vowed to be reincarnated
as a Roman.
This indeed took place. In his new life, the man grew up to join the
Roman guild of engineers. He even married the daughter of the Master
Robot-Maker, and had a son by her.
Once he learned the secrets of the Bhoota Vahana Yanta, the man resolved
to transfer the information back to Pataliputra. But he was well
aware that now, since he was a member of the guild, he would be killed as
soon as he left. So he cut a gash in his thigh, inserted the plans in his flesh,
and sewed the wound back up.

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Rakesh Khanna @blaftrakesh.bsky.social · 5d

Meant for US people only? Or int'l publishers also welcome? @edebell.com

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Reposted by Rakesh Khanna

Freyaa🍉❤️‍🔥🇵🇸 @freyaa.bsky.social · 5d

This looks really cool! #ambedkarPhule #indianBooks

The seekers in these stories travel through worlds both ancient and modern, worlds of symbol and fantastical allegory, on their paths to greater truth.

The state of Maharashtra is famous for its ancient Buddhist cave complexes. It's also known as the birthplace of leaders in the struggle against caste oppression: Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule in the early 1800s, and B. R. Ambedkar in 1891. It is here that Dr. Ambedkar, architect of the Indian constitution and warrior against the practice of untouchability, led marches for the right of Dalit people to draw water from community wells, to enter temples, to live with dignity.

The Seekers consists of five stories that hold Phule-Ambedkarite thought at their core, weaving together the history of ideological conflict, the pursuit of artistic excellence, and the unquenchable human thirst for freedom. The book tells of ancient revelations, of flood and fire, of vast deadly deserts, of people turned to stone.

It is a unique work of anti-caste Marathi literature that feels both timeless and sparklingly new.

"...Gautamiputra’s stories shun the beaten path, chart their own course, and leave indelible footprints for others to follow" —Raja Dhale (1940-2019), writer and activist, co-founder of the Dalit Panthers

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Reposted by Rakesh Khanna

franz @franzanth.bsky.social · 6d

being nice to bugs is hot

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