A philosophical banker by cast of mind (something of a homo universalis), Mufaddal carries to the counting-house an abiding devotion to the fine arts, to history, and to philosophy, a humanism that leavens the exacting rigour of finance with amplitude of spirit.
Essays
Writings on Hindustani classical music, philosophy, and the shape of the modern world.
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The Vocal Gharana System of Hindustani Classical Music
Part V.1: An Essay on the Vocal Gharana lineages of North Indian Classical Music An Overture to the Gharanas that nurtured the rapturous souls of Hindustani Classical Music Taken together, the gharanas of Hindustani classical music tell a single connected story. From the mother gharana…
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The Sikh Musical Tradition: Kirtan, Raga, and the Rababi Lineage in Hindustani Sacred Music
Part IV: The Sikh Musical Tradition: Kirtan, Raga and the Rababi Lineage in Hindustani Sacred Music How performance, scripture, and a four-century Muslim–Sikh musical partnership shaped a living sacred tradition. Sikhism is almost unique among world religions in having been founded through performance, its liturgy,…
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Conversion and Continuity: How Hereditary Muslim Families Came to Lead North Indian Classical Music
Part III: The sociology of Muslim musicianship, the evidence for conversion, and why the music never changed In brief: One of the most striking facts about North Indian classical music is that its most prestigious performing lineages came to rest, over several centuries, in the…
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Sanctified Sound: Music, Faith and Cultural Synthesis in Medieval North India, circa 1200 to 1550
Part II How the history of Hindustani classical music was shaped by the Delhi Sultanate, the Chishti Sufis, and the temple stream. Introduction Few chapters in the cultural history of the Indian subcontinent are as consequential, or as persistently misunderstood, as the musical encounter between…
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The Sound of the Sacred Land: A History of Hindustani Classical Music
Part I: Introduction to the Series This is a series of essays on Hindustani classical music, conceived to unfold across the ages and to illumine the nuances, the lineages, and the enduring legacy that adorn our musical heritage. Bharat, or Hindustan, is a land…
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The Quiet Joy of Fortitude
On Stoicism, the East, and the Art of Not Growing Dull Speech delivered at the Maldives Professional Speakers Summit held on July 11, 2026 A very good morning to you all. Friends, when people hear the word “stoic,” they conjure someone glacial and impassive, clenching…
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The Chalice of Malice
Homo sapiens have dominated the planet earth for millenniums as they kept evolving in to an incredibly rapacious species. But that dominion came with disastrous consequences. As we progressed, we left behind a trail of destruction, anarchy, disarray, that would keep us at the helm…
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A thousand years of peace!
The world that we have bequeathed from nature has now come to war with it! As humans attempt to overpower and rein in the primordial force of nature that created the universe, we are slowly but surely becoming more and more arrogant. With great power…
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A not so Accommodating World
An epoch is in the making as we move ahead with technological advancement and are faced with the choice of plenty to deal with. At the same time we have to face the increasing instance of monopolies that could rule our lives. We are consciously…