K. Narayan (1906—2001) witnessed nearly a century of change in his native India and captured it in fiction of uncommon warmth and vibrancy. The four novels collected here, all written during British rule, bring colonial India into intimate focus through the narrative gifts of this master of literary realism. Swami and Friends introduces us to Narayan’s beloved fictional town of Malgudi, where ten-year-old Swaminathan’s excitement about his country’s initial stirrings for independence competes with his ardor for cricket and all other things British. The Bachelor of Arts is a poignant coming-of-age novel about a young man flush with first love, but whose freedom to pursue it is hindered by the fixed ideas of his traditional Hindu family. In The Dark Room, Narayan’s portrait of aggrieved domesticity, the docile and obedient Savitri, like many Malgudi women, is torn between submitting to her husband’s humiliations and trying to escape them. The title character in The English Teacher, Narayan’s most autobiographical novel, searches for meaning when the death of his young wife deprives him of his greatest source of happiness. These pioneering novels, luminous in their detail and refreshingly free of artifice, are a gift to twentieth-century literature.(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)

    The narrator of this story, a precocious nine-year old child, is sent to visit an aunt. This aunt, ignored by a husband whose only interest seems to lie in entertaining slim-waisted young boys, suffers from a relentless bodily itch, an itch, her niece discovers, no doctor can cure and only her maidservant can relieve. Frank and often wickedly comic, Chughtai's stories were the imaginative core of her life's work, drawn from memories of the sprawling Muslim household of her childhood. With her mastery of the spoken language, economy of form, and her fine eye for the details of the intricate and hidden world of women's experience, Chughtai captured the evolving conflicts of Muslim India. Her exploration of the myriad and subtle tyrannies of middle-class gentility, and, equally, of those unexpected moments of sexual liberation and spirit, is unrivalled in contemporary Urdu literature.

    THREE NOVELS ABOUT THE SUPER-SLEUTH, THE BENGALI DETECTIVE FELUDA; GREAT FUN.

    Ramanujan (who died in 1993) has rendered two services: he has introduced Indian and Western readers to an unfamiliar and fascinating literary tradition, and he has provided access to some examples of a mature classical poetry. In them, as the translator notes, passion is balanced by courtesy, transparency by ironies and nuances of design, impersonality by vivid detail, spareness by richness of implication. The poems come from one of the earliest surviving texts of Tamil poetry, the Kuruntokai, an anthology of love lyrics probably recorded during the first three centuries A.D. Seventy-six of these classical poems have here been given a modern language and form. In an effort at fidelity to the effect of the images and their placement in the original, Ramanujan has given a visual shape to the poems by typographic devices. This classic anthology of translations has long been out of print. It should interest all those who read poetry, as well as those who value Ramanujan's gift as a translator.

    Examining virtues that include fearlessness, reverence, freedom from anger, and compassion, this text draws on the Bhagavad Gita to illustrate how these virtues assist a seeker in attaining realization.

    Sadhu Sundar SinghHours before he intended to kill himself, the young Sundar had a vision of Jesus. Immediately, the emptiness filling his heart was lifted. Despite opposition at home, he soon knew that he had to share his faith throughout India and Tibet. What better way than to put on the robes of a sadhu and take to the road with no guarantee of food but with a passionate desire to live as Christ did

    The first play, Tughlaq, is a historical play in the manner of nineteenth-century Parsee theater. The second, Hayavadana was one of the first modern Indian plays to employ traditional theatrical techniques. In Naga-Mandala, the third play, Karnad turns to oral tales, usually narrated by women. This selected work of one of India's best known playwrights should attract the attention of students and scholars of comparative literature, or any reader interested in South Asian literature.

    These memoirs reveal both the inner and outer life of this great man who had an unwavering commitment to the practice of non-violence, to an engaged spirituality and to the power of love.

    When Zandra, the official bather of the Rajah's elephants, saves them from serious illness, she exacts from the Rajah a reward more costly than he realizes.

    Slavery was there in Babylon and elsewhere in Mesopotamia; it was widely prevalent in ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, centuries before the coming of Christ. Ancient India also had slaves but they were so mildly treated that foreign visitors like Megasthenes, who were acquainted with their fate in other countries, failed to notice the existence of slavery in this country. An altogether new dimension—religious sanction—was added to the institution of slavery with the rise of Christianity to power in the Roman Empire. Hitherto, slavery had been a creation of the crude in human nature—the urge to dominate over others, to make use of others for private comfort and profit. Now it was ordained that the God of the Christians had bestowed the whole earth and all its wealth on the believers, that the infidels had no natural or human rights, and that the believers, that the infidels had no natural or human rights, and that the believers could do to the infidels whatever they chose—kill them, plunder them, reduce them to the status of slaves or non-citizens. In short, slavery became a divinely ordained institution.

    Written by men during the fifteenth to eighteenth century, the poems adopt a female voice, the voice of a courtesan addressing her customer. That customer, it turns out, is the deity, whom the courtesan teases for his infidelities and cajoles into paying her more money. Brazen, autonomous, fully at home in her body, she merges her worldly knowledge with the deity's transcendent power in the act of making love.This volume is the first substantial collection in English of these Telugu writings, which are still part of the standard repertoire of songs used by classical South Indian dancers. A foreword provides context for the poems, investigating their religious, cultural, and historical significance. Explored, too, are the attempts to contain their explicit eroticism by various apologetic and rationalizing devices.The translators, who are poets as well as highly respected scholars, render the poems with intelligence and tenderness. Unusual for their combination of overt eroticism and devotion to God, these poems are a delight to read.

    It even teaches that some of the most revered books of hindu scripture are not actually Indian, and it devalues India's culture by portraying it as less ancient than it actually is.David Frawley, goes to the roots of this theory promoted by Max Muller in 1848 and proves it wrong.

    The 24 page full-colour introduction includes stunning photography of the country''s many highlights. The guide has comprehensive accounts of every attraction, from fast-paced Delhi and the sacred sites of the Ganges plain to the Moghul splendour of Agra and the shell-sand beaches of the south. There is also practical advice on activities as diverse as boating through the Keralan backwaters, hiking through the high-altitude deserts of Ladakh or treatments at an ayurvedic spa. The listings sections provide hundreds of insider reviews of the best hotels, hostels, restaurants, bars, shops and museums in every city and village. The authors also give an informed insight into India''s history, politics, religion, music and cinema, providing a valuable context to the reader''s trip.

    This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

    These associations obscure another reality: that an army of Indian men and women who tried to throw the British off the subcontinent. The Forgotten Army brings to life for the first time the story of how Subhas Chandra Bose, a charismatic Bengali, attempted to liberate India with an army of former British Indian soldiers--the Indian National Army (INA).The story begins with the British Indian Army fighting a heroic rearguard action against the invading Japanese down the Malaysian peninsula and ends with many of these same soldiers defeated in their effort to invade India as allies of Japan. Peter Ward Fay intertwines powerful descriptions of military action with a unique knowledge of how the INA was formed and its role in the broader struggle for Indian independence.Fay incorporates the personal reminiscences of Prem Saghal, a senior officer in the INA, and Lakshmi Swaminadhan, leader of its women's sections, to help the reader understand the motivations of those who took part. Their experiences offer an engagingly personal counterpoint to the political and military history.". . . a well-crafted and thought-provoking mixture of oral history and original research, providing the most comprehensive account yet published of the events leading to the formation of the INA." --Guardian"Fay has made a magnificent attempt to analyse all the credible information on the history of [Subhas Chandra] Bose's legendary Indian National Army (INA)." --Times Higher Education Supplement"This fine study of the Indian National Army (INA) seeks to demonstrate this army's significance in the attainment of Indian independence and the termination of the British Empire. . . . Throughout, Fay seeks to explain why 'constant and true' Indians like Sahgal and Swaminadhan chose to fight alongside the Japanese and against the British . . . ." -- Pacific AffairsPeter Ward Fay is Professor of History, California Institute of Technology.

    The unforgettable story is told here by the Commander of this brigade, with a wealth of detail matched by depth of perception. The story is worth reading again and again, because, as time has shown, the Kashmir confrontation is not over yet.

    

    

    Coomaraswamy this small but wonderful volume is an essay in translation and exegesis in relation to the Vedas in which passages from the Rgveda and the Brhadaranyaka and Maitri Upanisads, dealing with cosmogony, ontology and teleology, have been interpreted in a new perception of the quite extraordinary depth of those ideas and their amazing psychological accuracy. According to Coomaraswamy no great extension of our present measure of understanding of the Vedas can be expected from philological research alone. Further progress in the interpretation of the difficult cycle of liturgies cannot be made until they are more profoundly explained from the viewpoint of the history of religion and translated in accordance with the true spirit of the textual contents. The passages translated and interpreted in this volume reflect their technical significance and at the same time a comparative approach in regard to quality, understanding and depth.

    Ego, hubris, greed, lust, temptation influence the emotional balance and shall continue to do so no matter the changes that are likely to occur in his lifestyle on account of scientific advances. That said the overt manifestation of these influences do take some as yet unseen and unexperienced forms. That constitutes the main theme of short stories in this collection. Man is of course at Centre stage of these stories though his behavior is dictated by inroads that various scientific advances. माणसाचं भावविश्व ही मोठी अजब चीज आहे. काळाच्या ओघात माणसाचं बाह्यरूप कितीही बदललं असलं, तरी त्याच्या भावविश्वावरचा काम, क्रोध, लोभ, मोह, मद आणि मत्सर या षड्रिपूंचा पगडा तसाच कायम आहे. त्यामुळं कोणत्याही परिस्थितीतील त्याच्या प्रतिक्रियेचा उगमाचा शोध घेतल्यास तो या षड्रिपूंपाशीच येऊन थबकतो. आज प्रस्थापित झालेल्या, तसेच भविष्यात येऊ घातलेल्या विज्ञानाच्या नवनूतन आविष्कारांच्या प्रभावाखाली माणसाच्या भावविश्वात आजवर कधीही न अनुभवलेल्या आगळ्यावेगळ्या वादळांचा संचार होऊ शकतो. पण त्यांना तोंड देताना होणारी माणसाची वागणूक मात्र फारशी अनोखी असणार नाही.

    This book is primarily about the priests and other kinds of sacred specialists who serve them, about the way in which they organize their business, and about their representations of death and understandings of the rituals over which they preside.

    In 1944 the British 14th Army, under its commander General Slim, drew back to the Imphal Plain, before Mutaguchi�s impending offensive.To the north, however, the entire Japanese 31 Division had crossed the Chindwin and, on April 5, arrived at the hill-station and road junction of Kohima, cutting off Imphal except by air, from the supply point at Dimpapur.Kohima was initially manned by only 266 men of the Assam Regiment and a few hundred convalescents and administrative troops. They were joined, on April 5, by 440 men of the Fourth Battalion of the Royal West Kent Regiment, straight from the Battle of Arakan.In pouring rain, under continual bombardment, this tiny garrison held the assaults of thirteen thousand Japanese troops in hand-to-hand combat for sixteen days, an action described by Mountbatten as "probably one of the greatest battles in history ... in effect the Battle of Burma, naked, unparalleled heroism, the British/Indian Thermopylae".

    Critique by Swami Vivekananda, Gandhi vindicated by time, mutual support between missionaries, scholars, British administrators for consolidating imperial power or devices of the design, The Church as a 'Vendor of Goods', Conversions

    It developed in the Indus or Harappan Civilization, which flourished c. 2500-1900 BC in and around modern Pakistan, collapsing before the earliest historical records of South Asia were composed. Nearly 4,000 samples of the writing survive, mainly on stamp seals and amulets, but no translations. Professor Parpola is the chief editor of the Corpus of Indus Seals and Inscriptions. His ideas about the script, the linguistic affinity of the Harappan language, and the nature of the Indus religion are informed by a remarkable command of Aryan, Dravidian, and Mesopotamian sources, archaeological materials, and linguistic methodology. His fascinating study confirms that the Indus script was logo-syllabic, and that the Indus language belonged to the Dravidian family.

    Some ground paintings are daily rituals, made every morning at dawn, while wall paintings and mud bas-reliefs are often made for special festivals to honor the deities and attract their benevolent attentions. It is the women of India who are responsible for communication with the gods on the behalf of their families, governing the activities of family members, and maintaining the sanctity and order of the home.