Dr. Vikram Sampath, FRHistS

After months of huddles & quiet hustles; intense brainstorming; periods of great ecstasy and moments of intense despair—we are so delighted to announce our new start-up venture - @naav_ai NAAV AI that empowers languages with AI-Powered Content Transformation. Inspired by the Sanskrit, Pāli, and Hindi word Naav (meaning “boat”), we envision AI as a vessel — carrying content across linguistic shores, making knowledge more accessible, and connecting people through language. The spark was lit during one of the numerous endless conversations I have with my dear friend of several years and always a sounding board of sorts—Sandeep Singh Chauhan. Coming from a rich corporate experience of over 20 years and a sound technology background, Sandeep was the perfect person to ideate on a longstanding thought. Both of us felt an urgent need to democratize quality content, lifting it from the ‘English-only’ bubble into the multilingual heartbeat of India — with 22 official languages and countless dialects. Could the emergent AI technology help bridge this growing linguistic divide? Could it translate and transform content — text, audio, video — into the diverse languages of India without erasing the human voice and the cultural and linguistic nuances? Could it empower, not replace, creators? And thus, NAAV AI was co-founded by Sandeep and me in January 2025. In no time we had a third friend Sravan Kumar Aditya, a builder and enabler of several successful tech start-ups join hands with us. It was propitious to get early support for the company from friends @bhash (CEO of @Olacabs & @Krutrim) whose infectious energy makes every idea seem within reach and @ashajadeja325 (Silicon Valley based investor and philanthropist) who is always on the lookout to support every good idea. Our flagship product, TransLit, began its journey with @BluOneInk as our first publishing partner. Our team of brilliant developers, language experts, and professional translators are now translating books from English into 6 Indian languages: Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam.— faster, better, and with human creativity and intervention at the core. The AI simply assists them, it can never replace them! Every AI translation is meticulously reviewed and refined by these professionals who are part of the founding team, who report faster turnarounds and greater reach. But this is just the beginning. NAAV AI is setting sail for an exciting journey ahead— and we’re inviting you aboard ! Let’s bridge languages. Let’s build together. For more details please visit our website naavai.com and follow us on our social-media handles! FB: bit.ly/43Ho5kX Insta: bit.ly/4kTAbi8 Linkedin bit.ly/43NhHsC X: x.com/naav_ai

📢Applications for Batch 3 - Sir Jadunath Sarkar Fellowship (2026–27) is live. Apply now! 📅Deadline: 31 March 2026 👉Application Form Link: forms.gle/RgSEiNjeQfDK2Y… ✨Hear from @BarooahNabaarun , our Batch 1 fellow as he shares his fellowship experience at FIHCR! @vikramsampath

The pride with which she says "pre Hindutva India". Gopal was born in 1968, her father a high ranking diplomat served under the "non Hindutva" Indira Gandhi including during the emergency. When Sanjay Gandhi ran the largest forced mass sterilization program in human history. She must have been 14-15 when the "non Hindutva" govt of Rajiv Gandhi pogromed and genocided 5,000+ Sikhs. Her father continued to serve the family loyally. I wonder Ms Gopal if you have ever disowned your father for serving the two most violent PM's independent India has had? By body count they absolutely mog everyone else. She graduated from DU in 1989 In 1989 we had the peaceful Bhagalpur riots that killed 1000+, in 1990 in this peaceful utopian India Pandits were raped and cleansed. In 1991 she did her masters. 91 saw multiple small riots that killed 2,000. 92 saw the Bombay riots. By then she left on the basis of her fathers comprador background to the US. And she lectures us on "hindutva". You Ms Gopal are a cancerous low iq cretin. No more, no less

Who told you? The colonialists? All regions of India celebrate it but under different names. Vijayanagara empire documents celebration of festival of color (Vasantotsavam). Travelers’ records of Vijayanagara empire describe how people sprayed color from pichkari (spray guns). And many Hoyasala records and Hoyasala temple depictions also show celebration of festival of colors. And these are certainly southern empires.

Aren’t you the same person who was blaming Holi and Kumbh Mela for spreading COVID and mocking Diwali by telling Hindus to “beef up” And you think you are uniquely qualified for Hindus to take festival advice from you? Now I know why they say the quality of your thoughts reflects on your face. You look exactly how you think.

Its really Krishna's grace that Nagamani found her loving human guardian in @vikramsampath ji and @vikramsampath ji got unlimited affection and blessings of Nagamani. It's the magic of the cosmic cowherd who brought his eternal companion and his devotee together!

📢 Applications for Batch 3 - Sir Jadunath Sarkar Fellowship (2026–27) is live! 📅 Deadline: 31 March 2026 👉 Application Form Link: forms.gle/RgSEiNjeQfDK2Y… In frame: Economist, Member of PM's Economic Advisory Council, Dr Shamika Ravi @ShamikaRavi @vikramsampath

📢 Applications for Batch 3 - Sir Jadunath Sarkar Fellowship (2026–27) is live! 📅 Deadline: 31 March 2026 👉 Apply here: forms.gle/RgSEiNjeQfDK2Y…. ✨ Hear from @chandrachurg , our Batch 1 fellow as he shares his fellowship experience at #FIHCR! Apply now! @vikramsampath

@MakrandParanspe Agree Makrand ji. We'd love to may be translate all your wonderful books into multiple Indian languages and also audiobook formats so that even those who can't read n write, can start "listening" 😊

Opens up endless possibilities for a language-rich country like India.

Mughals—more precisely, the Timurids; did not “enrich” India; they extracted it. And invoking Maddison it utter foolish act. Start with the same data often cited to glorify that era. In 1 CE, India held ~32% of global GDP. By 1000 CE, ~28.1%. By 1500 CE, ~24.4%. But under Akbar, by 1600 CE, India had already slipped to 22.4%, while China stood at 29%. Now the more telling metric: GDP per capita. Maddison shows India’s per capita growth turns negative only in two long phases—1500–1820 (Timurid/Mughal rule) and 1913–1950 (British rule). During the Mughal period, it stagnates at around –0.01%. That single number is a quiet indictment: the empire’s خزانہ (treasury) swelled, but the people thinned into poverty. In other words, wealth was not created; it was concentrated. The state grew richer as society grew poorer. A classic extractive regime. And this isn’t just statistical abstraction. Contemporary observers saw it unfold. As François Bernier noted in Travels in the Mogul Empire (1656–1668, p. 223): “ Gold and silver are not in greater plenty here than elsewhere; on the contrary, the inhabitants have less the appearance of a moneyed people than those of many other parts of the globe.” Bernier informs us about the Aurangzeb’s period by stating as below (p. 225): “Labourers perish due to bad treatment from Governors. Children of poor are carried away as slaves. Peasantry abandon the country driven by despair. As the land throughout the whole empire is considered the property of the sovereign, there can be no earldoms, marquisates, or duchies. The royal grants consist only of pensions, either in land or money, which the king gives, augments, retrenches or takes away at pleasure.” “The artisans who manufactured the luxury goods for the Mughal aristocracy were almost always on starvation wages.” Artisans were not participants in a free market; they were subjects of coercion. Prices were fixed by imperial buyers; refusal could invite imprisonment, even death. This was an extraction with a velvet glove. François Bernier records the grotesque contrast: the same weavers who produced the world’s finest brocades walked half-naked. Wealth did not circulate; rather it was siphoned upward. Even Thomas Roe, at Jahangir’s court, stood dazzled by diamonds and rubies, yet struck by the poverty he witnessed from Surat to Delhi. The empire glittered; but only at the top. And where did this wealth go? Not just hoarded, but exported and consumed. Roughly 15–20% of state wealth fed the court’s excesses. As noted by Irfan Habib and S. M. Ikram, even Akbar’s regime leaned heavily on extraction. Babur, after Panipat, shipped enormous wealth to Samarkand, Khurasan, Mecca, and Medina; distributing coins even in Kabul, a symbolic drain outward. Under Akbar, in 1576 alone, ₹6 lakh was sent to Mecca; when a barber earned ₹0.5 a day. That single transfer equalled the daily wages of ~12 lakh people; nearly 8% of the population. And this outflow did not stop; it continued under Jahangir, Shah Jahan, and Aurangzeb. So regular were these transfers that a saying emerged: when caravans arrived from Hindustan, the Arab world gathered to claim its share. This was not a civilisational golden age; it was a pipeline wherein wealth moved upward, then outward, while those who created it were left threadbare. For those who want the full anatomy of this extraction; with primary sources and data; see Appendix A of #BaburTheChessboardKing. The glitter of the Peacock Throne was not prosperity; it was compression. I’m glad @priyankachopra compared Timurids (Mughals) no less than other Portuguese, Dutch and other invaders. Btw @PoMoGandhi challenge still holds: prove Timurids (Mughals) made us richer in debate with me, and carry crores as prize money. Tip: Read my book to decide if your arguments would sustain or not.

📢 Batch 3 Applications Open! Sir Jadunath Sarkar Fellowship (2026–27) accepting applications. 📅 Deadline: 31 March 2026 👉 Apply here: forms.gle/RgSEiNjeQfDK2Y… In frame: Economist, Member of PM's Economic Advisory Council, Shri Sanjeev Sanyal @sanjeevsanyal @vikramsampath

Congratulations to @vikramsampath @heysandeeep @naav_ai on the historic milestone! @SarvamAI is proud to be the AI tech partner in this journey of breaking language barriers and reaching the masses through literature. Excited about what lies ahead! @GokulNC @oneraghavan

@aparanjape Thanks a lot Amit

@vikramsampath @naav_ai @Sanskar_Bharati @Violinmanjunath Congratulations!

Red-letter day for @naav_ai as India's 1st AI assisted translated book in Kannada is the biography of India's 1st artist to embrace recording technology - Gauhar Jaan. Very grateful to renowned musician & president of @Sanskar_Bharati Dr @Violinmanjunath & senior technologist @RohiniSrivathsa for gracing the occasion as guests of honour in a program organised by the publisher @subbubooks ; our partner in building an integrated platform for long form text translation in Indic languages @SarvamAI @pratykumar @arijeet_sat ; our advisors Prof Shekar & @rameeshkailasam & the entire NAAV AI team.

@pratykumar @SarvamAI Thank you so much @pratykumar ..we are so excited & proud to be co-building this important solution for India & her literature, alongwith @SarvamAI 🙏

Many kudos @vikramsampath and team. Has been a fantastic partnership for us at @SarvamAI. Excited for all the high quality stuff that the Naav platform will be able to create.

@rameeshkailasam @naav_ai Thank you Rameesh ji for your constant guidance, support and encouragement which means a lot for us at NAAV AI

History meets Innovation! Congratulations @vikramsampath for leading the way. Launching India’s 1st #AI-assisted translated book in Kannada is a massive for Indic languages.History deserves to be available in different languages to be read by all, @naav_ai is making it happen

📢 Applications Open: Batch 3 - Sir Jadunath Sarkar Fellowship for Indian History (2026–27) 🔗 Apply here: forms.gle/RgSEiNjeQfDK2Y… #FIHCR invites original, rigorous research and scholarship on Bharat’s past. 📅 Application Deadline: 31 March 2026 @vikramsampath @SatyajeetOjha6