How did an unsuccessful young lawyer become the Mahatma, the “great soul” who led 400 million Indians in their struggle for independence from the British Empire? What is nonviolence, and how does it work?Easwaran answers these questions and gives a vivid account of the turning points and choices in Gandhi’s life that made him an icon of nonviolence. Easwaran witnessed at firsthand how Gandhi inspired ordinary people to turn fear into fearlessness, and anger into love. He visited Gandhi in his ashram to find out more about this human alchemy, and during the prayer meeting watched the Mahatma absorbed in meditation on the Bhagavad Gita, the scripture that was the wellspring of his spiritual power.Quotations highlight Gandhi’s teachings in his own words, and sidebar notes and a chronology, new to this updated edition, provide historical context.This book conveys the spirit and soul of Gandhi – the only way he can be truly understood.

    Written by four major saints, the greatest exponents of this poetic form, between the tenth and twelfth centuries, they are passionate lyrical expressions of the search for an unpredictable and spontaneous spiritual vision of 'now'. Here, yogic and tantric symbols, riddles and enigmas subvert the language of ordinary experience, as references to night and day, sex and family relationships take on new mystical meanings. These intense poems of personal devotion to a single deity also question traditional belief systems, customs, superstitions, image worship and even moral strictures, in verse that speaks to all men and women regardless of class and caste.

    M. Burke's first-hand account of his modern-day pilgrimage begins in a school built like a medieval rock fortress hidden in northern India. From there he takes the reader to monasteries where ancient lore is still taught, along the pilgrim road to forbidden Mecca and into the heart and mind of Asia. Burke's experiences with living Sufis and their teachings, practices and actions clearly dispel the notion of Sufism as a phenomenon of the past. Speaking several Oriental languages, traveling as a dervish pilgrim, O. M. Burke lived and studied with ancient communities in the Near and Middle East. This first-hand report is no ordinary book of travel.

    You are a true karmachari. A collection of unforgettable short stories about ordinary people, Karmachari is a mirror held up to society. Set in suburban Mumbai of the 1970s, yet universal, it is peopled by characters we might meet in real life. They come alive under V.P. Kale's sharp but compassionate gaze, and prod us gently towards a world of greater kindness and understanding.

    The work examines hundreds of related myths and a wide range of Indian texts--Vedic, Puranic, classical, modern, and tribal--centering on the stories of the great ascetic, Siva, and his erotic alter ego, Kama.

    A critical introduction by Rajni Kothari provides the analytical framework. Of the nine studies that follow, four are based on detailed investigation of individual caste movements and structures and their induction into the political process. The other five focus on the macro dimensions of the political involvement of caste. Each essay tries to bring out the substantial change that has taken place in the inter-relationship between the antecedent social structure of Indian and democratic politics and underlies the emerging idiom of social-political behaviour. This second edition has an extended prologue by eminent political scientist James Manor. Manor s Caste and Politics in Recent Times is an optimistic account of the changes and developments in the interplay of caste and politics over the past four decades. He shows how the diminishing influence of caste hierarchies has had widespread implications for the voting patterns of the jati-clusters (caste groups). Taking up the debate where Kothari and other contributors had left it, Manor s new chapter makes this seminal collection truly contemporary. The volume will be of interest to students and scholars of political science.

    Expelled from Uganda and arriving in a cold and overcast London, Mahmood Mamdani shares his experiences in a camp run by the UK government’s resettlement board and explores the theme of political identity—the politicization of racial identity and its reproduction after independence. A telling and gripping story that will be familiar to refugees and those seeking asylum in Britain, this vivid autobiography is as pertinent today as when it was first published in 1973.