The main stream media attributes violence in India to India's 'culture'. Hindus and Muslims seem to be locked in age old conflict while gender relations are understood to be so 'primitive' that newspapers from the New York Times to the British Independent have talked with concern about India's 'rape problem'. Are there recidivist historic communities and violent social relations in India that have been carried over from an ancient past? This talk explores this eternality of Indian 'culture' and why such explanations are so resilient in commonsense approaches to India.