An intricately researched and elegantly written epic history peopled with larger-than-life characters, it is the work of a major scholar at the peak of his abilities...

    Bhyrappa. Aavarana means enveloping or covering something. This novel deals with the historical period in Indian history when the Mogul Emperor Aurangzeb ruled most part of India. Aavarana was sold out even before its release in February 2007. The novel went on to create a record in the Indian literary world by witnessing 10 reprints within five months of its release. S.L.Bhyrappa says that 'Aavarana' is the result of his search for truth about history.

    

    

    A re-creation of one of the key moments of twentieth-century history: the partition and independence of India, and the final days of the Raj.

    We know the people were very angry and for a few days it seemed that India had been shaken. But, when a mighty tree falls, it is only natural that the earth around it does shakes a little." — Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on 19 November 1984"I have no hesitation in apologizing not only to the Sikh community but the whole Indian nation because what took place in 1984 is the negation of the concept of nationhood, as enshrined in our Constitution. On behalf of our government, on behalf of the entire people of this country. I bow my head in shame that such a thing took place." — Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 11 August 2005It stands out even in a country inured to mass violence - 3000 members of a minority community slaughtered over three days in 1984, right in India's capital. Twenty-three years on, neither the organizers of the massacre nor the state players who facilitated it have been punished, despite prolonged inquiries and trials. This massacre of Silks in the wake of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's assassination has turned out to be a reality check on India's much touted institutions of the rule of law.The book seeks to uncover the truth on the basis of the evidence that came to light during the proceedings of the latest judicial inquiry conducted by the Nanavati Commission. Authors Manoj Mitta and H.S. Phoolka, perhaps the most knowledgeable voices on the subject, present an unsparing account, abounding with insights and revelations, on the 1984 carnage and its aftermath.

    Revised annually, this collection of articles by India's topmost economists and experts contains original readings, notes, and excerpts from plan documents, presenting a comprehensive and critical analysis of Indian economy since independence (1947–2006).

    Hated and feared by many, he schemed to win the love of the beautiful goddess Parvati . . . but learned an important lesson when he invited her elephant-headed son Ganesha over for lunch one day . . . So goes one of the many delightful tales in this decidedly grown-up book of traditional Indian stories, retold for the modern reader. Author Kamla Kapur is well known in her native India as a poet and playwright, and her connection to these age-old stories is the reverent yet individualistic one we might expect from someone whose introduction tells of her hometown, where naked, dreadlocked holy men speed about on motorbikes. To collect these stories, Kapur relied on ancient sacred texts, modern scholarship, and chance encounters with interesting people who just happened to know a really good one about this time that Vishnu sank into the ocean, was incarnated as a pig, and had a really wonderful time. Like myths around the world, these are teaching stories that offer both a window into a fascinating culture that has endured for thousands of years, and a code for living that can be applied to the modern world.

    There, in a cramped one-room apartment lives Dhondutai, the last living disciple of two of the finest Indian classical singers of the twentieth century: the legendary Alladiya Khan and the great songbird Kesarbai Kerkar. Namita begins to learn singing from Dhondutai, at first reluctantly and then, as the years pass, with growing passion. Dhondutai sees in her a second Kesarbai, but does Namita have the dedication to give herself up completely to the discipline like her teacher? Or will there always be too many late nights and cigarettes? And where do love and marriage fit into all of this?  A bestseller in India, where it was a literary sensation, The Music Room is a deeply moving meditation on how traditions and life lessons are passed along generations, on the sacrifices made by women through the ages, and on a largely unknown, but vital aspect of Indian life and culture that will utterly fascinate American readers.

    Then a travel agent convinced him to spend his vacation in India. Amazed by what he saw in the land of sacred cows and shocking poverty, Jaume was transformed.That experience lead him to reconsider the world he lived in and caused him to think that he might do something to make it a little better. He devoted himself to helping a small orphanage in Bombay, one that was about to close its doors and send its forty children back to the streets (and the brothels) from which they had been rescued. Jaume seized the moment, determined not to let that happen. As a consequence, he changed his life, and much more as well.In Bombay Smiles, Jaume Sanllorente gives us an insightful and loving vision of a country of great contrasts. He reveals that the secret of his own happiness is in seeking happiness for others.Bombay Smiles is a story of loneliness, ransoms, dangers, injustices, threats of death, and acts of courage, which give an example to follow in spite of the adversities one might meet. It is a lesson of wise love, surrender, sacrifice, and hope, which invites us to start on the path toward a better world.Jaume Sanllorente was born in 1976 in Barcelona, Spain. His nonprofit organization, Bombay Smiles, provides schools, homes, and health care to thousands of children in India.

    However, a powerful counterforce within the American Academy is systematically undermining core icons and ideals of Indic Culture and thought. For instance, scholars of this counterforce have disparaged the Bhagavad Gita as “a dishonest book”; declared Ganesha’s trunk a “limp phallus”; classified Devi as the “mother with a penis” and Shiva as “a notorious womanizer” who incites violence in India; pronounced Sri Ramakrishna a pedophile who sexually molested the young Swami Vivekananda; condemned Indian mothers as being less loving of their children than white women; and interpreted the bindi as a drop of menstrual fluid and the “ha” in sacred mantras as a woman’s sound during orgasm.Are these isolated instances of ignorance or links in an institutionalized pattern of bias driven by certain civilizational worldviews?Are these academic pronouncements based on evidence, and how carefully is this evidence cross-examined? How do these images of India and Indians created in the American Academy influence public perceptions through the media, the education system, policymakers and popular culture?Adopting a politically impartial stance, this book, the product of an intensive multi-year research project, uncovers the invisible networks behind this Hinduphobia, narrates the Indian Diaspora’s challenges to such scholarship, and documents how those who dared to speak up have been branded as “dangerous”. The book hopes to provoke serious debate. For example:How do Hinduphobic works resemble earlier American literature depicting non-whites as dangerous savages needing to be civilized by the West?Are India’s internal social problems going to be managed by foreign interventions in the name of human rights?How do power imbalances and systemic biases affect the objectivity and quality of scholarship?What are the rights of practitioner-experts in “talking back” to academicians?What is the role of India’s intellectuals, policymakers and universities in fashioning an authentic and enduring response?

    Each is brightly colored and very beautiful. "Don't you ever want to wear a gray skirt and red blouse with round buttons like Mommy or a green dress like me?" Rupa asks. But Dadima prefers to wear her traditional saris. She shares with her granddaughter all the wonderful things that saris can do--from becoming an umbrella in a rainstorm to providing a deep pouch to carry seashells. Soon Rupa's own imagination is sparked as she envisions saris protecting her in the scary Gir Jungle, bandaging up an injured knee, and holding a special secret for her and Dadima to share. Kashmira Sheth provides young readers with a unique view of Indian culture and tradition through this affectionate, sensitive portrait of a grandmother and her American granddaughter. Hindu words defined and sprinkled throughout the text further add to the authenticity of the story. Yoshiko Jaeggi's sweeping, colorful, and fanciful watercolor illustrations capture the extraordinary bond of love that unites families across generations despite cultural differences. A note from the author and instructions for wrapping a sari are included.

    I find that her act of weaving and my act of writing are organically linked. The weave is similar. It is the weave of pain, suffering, and agony that links us."Activist and award-winning writer Urmila Pawar recounts three generations of Dalit women who struggled to overcome the burden of their caste. Dalits, or untouchables, make up India's poorest class. Forbidden from performing anything but the most undesirable and unsanitary duties, for years Dalits were believed to be racially inferior and polluted by nature and were therefore forced to live in isolated communities.Pawar grew up on the rugged Konkan coast, near Mumbai, where the Mahar Dalits were housed in the center of the village so the upper castes could summon them at any time. As Pawar writes, "the community grew up with a sense of perpetual insecurity, fearing that they could be attacked from all four sides in times of conflict. That is why there has always been a tendency in our people to shrink within ourselves like a tortoise and proceed at a snail's pace." Pawar eventually left Konkan for Mumbai, where she fought for Dalit rights and became a major figure in the Dalit literary movement. Though she writes in Marathi, she has found fame in all of India.In this frank and intimate memoir, Pawar not only shares her tireless effort to surmount hideous personal tragedy but also conveys the excitement of an awakening consciousness during a time of profound political and social change.

    When the mother finally realizes how important it is for her little girl to feel like a big girl on her seventh birthday, she dresses up her daughter in the folds of a blue sari. Feeling grown-up and very pretty, the daughter is thrilled to look just like her mother, even if only for a day. Mama's Saris captures an elegant snapshot of every girl's wish to play dress up.

    At Panipat, five months later, he fought the most important battle of his life and routed the mammoth army of Sultan Ibrahim Lodi, the Afghan ruler of Hindustan. Mughal rule in India had begun. It was to continue for over three centuries, shaping India for all time.In this definitive biography of the great Mughals, Abraham Eraly reclaims the right to set down history as a chronicle of flesh-and-blood people. Bringing to his task the objectivity of a scholar and the high imagination of a master storyteller, he recreates the lives of Babur, the intrepid pioneer; the dreamer Humayun; Akbar, the greatest and most enigmatic of the Mughals; the aesthetes Jehangir and Shah Jahan; and the dour and determined Aurangzeb.

    (Kanchamma, a midwife from Alligundam village in Tamil Nadu). We knew the doctor at the scan centre and...went to the clinic that he suggested and had the foetus removed. The next two times were also okay except that I got very tired and had to give up my job. My husband said having a son was more important than having a job. (Renu, from Chandigarh, who has had four abortions in five years). India has historically had a deficit of women compared to most other countries, but we now live in a time when a systematic extermination of an entire gender is taking place right before our eyes. Until the 1980s, women and girls were dying either of neglect or were killed soon after they were born. Today, the horrifying reality is that, thanks to advances in medical technology, they are now eliminated while still in the womb. Female foeticide has become an organized crime and the ultrasound machine has mutated into an instrument of murder. In Disappearing Daughters, Gita Aravamudan uses the tools of investigative reporting to expose the imperatives that drive this horrific phenomenon. She unravels an appalling story of deeply embedded and destructive patriarchal beliefs, disempowered women who have no claim on their own bodies and the active complicity of a ruthless and callous medical and social system. This book makes it chillingly clear that the macabre practice of eliminating female foetuses spells doom for our sons as well as our daughters and is bound to have a disastrous impact on future generations.

    Written with unprecedented insight and access to family archives, it reveals a life of contrasts and contradictions: the westernized Inner Temple lawyer who wore the clothes of India's poorest and who spun cotton by hand, the apostle of nonviolence who urged Indians to enlist in the First World War, the champion of Indian independence who never hated the British. It tells of Gandhi's campaigns against racial discrimination in South Africa and untouchability in India, tracks the momentous battle for India's freedom, explores the evolution of Gandhi's strategies of non-violent resistance, and examines relations between Muslims and non-Muslims, a question that attracted Gandhi's passionate attention and one that persists around the world today. Published to rave reviews in India in 2007, this riveting book gives North American readers the true Gandhi, the man as well as the legend, for the first time.

    In the Upanishads, we find the finest flowering of the Indian metaphysical and speculative thought. They are utterances of seers who spoke out of the fullness of their illumined experience. Upanishad is derived from upa (near), ni (down) and sad (to sit). Hence, the term implies the pupils, intent on learning, sitting near the teacher to acquire knowledge and truth. There are over 200 Upanishads but the traditional number is 108. Of them, only 10 are the principal Upanishads: Isha, Kena, Katha, Prashan, Mundaka, Mandukya, Tattiriya, Aitareya, Chhandogya and Brihadaranyaka. This book is a forerunner in introducing these primary Upanishads to the uninitiated.

    History of Medieval India studies this interesting period in Indian history when the land underwent drastic changes and was deeply influenced by the invading armies, religious movements, and the vicissitudes of the changing political, economic and cultural scene. To tell the history of a land spanning the geographical dimensions and the political divisions of the Indian subcontinent is in itself a formidable task. Satish Chandra executes this difficult mission withthe eye of an enquirer and the pen of a scholar.

    By what or by whom, how and why have we been imbued with COnsciousness - the life-giving force - that enables us to perceive and respond in this world. An enquiry into this contitures the subject matter fo the Kenopanishad. Part prose and part poetry, the Kenopanishad is a short treatise exploring the supremacy of Brahman, the eternal Truth and the path through which the knowledge of Brahman can be realised. Swami Chinmayananda's erudite commentary on the Kenopanishad is peppered with humour and timeless anecdotes that paints a vivid picture and gives a modern context to this age-old wisdom.

    He decides to save it and hides it away—but can death be cheated?This haunting parable of love and destiny is illustrated in the delicate and ornamental Patachitra tradition of Orissa, eastern India.Radhashyam Raut is a young painter, trained in the traditional art of Patachitra mural paintings of Orissa, where he lives and works.

    Magical spirits in the mountains of the northeast, sneaky robbers and brave heroines in the heart of the Indus Valley, action and adventure in the far south, and much more.

    Years later, Appu pieces together his fragmented past,pouring over letters, diaries and family albums to slowly come in terms with his mother's schizophrenia and it's effect on those living under its shadow.One man's memory becomes the landscape of an entire nation's socio-political history. A touching portrait of the reconciliation between love and guilt, this novel parallels the state of a nation with the fall of a nuclear family, offering a poignant exploration of self-discovery and hope.

    "India" and "Pakistan" were drawn onto maps in the midst of Partition's genocidal violence and one of the largest displacements of people in the twentieth century. Yet this historical specificity of decolonization on the very making of a nationalized cartography of modern South Asia has largely gone unexamined. In this remarkable study based on more than two years of ethnographic and archival research, Vazira Fazila-Yacoobali Zamindar argues that the combined interventions of the two postcolonial states were enormously important in shaping these massive displacements. She examines the long, contentious, and ambivalent process of drawing political boundaries and making distinct nation-states in the midst of this historic chaos.Zamindar crosses political and conceptual boundaries to bring together oral histories with north Indian Muslim families divided between the two cities of Delhi and Karachi with extensive archival research in previously unexamined Urdu newspapers and government records of India and Pakistan. She juxtaposes the experiences of ordinary people against the bureaucratic interventions of both postcolonial states to manage and control refugees and administer refugee property. As a result, she reveals the surprising history of the making of the western Indo-Pak border, one of the most highly surveillanced in the world, which came to be instituted in response to this refugee crisis, in order to construct national difference where it was the most blurred.In particular, Zamindar examines the "Muslim question" at the heart of Partition. From the margins and silences of national histories, she draws out the resistance, bewilderment, and marginalization of north Indian Muslims as they came to be pushed out and divided by both emergent nation-states. It is here that Zamindar asks us to stretch our understanding of "Partition violence" to include this long, and in some sense ongoing, bureaucratic violence of postcolonial nationhood, and to place Partition at the heart of a twentieth century of border-making and nation-state formation.

    These rituals typically involve the visualization of a deity, offerings, and the chanting of his or her mantra. Common variations include visualizing the deity in the act of sexual union with aconsort, visualizing oneself as the deity, and transgressive acts such as token consumption of meat or alcohol. Most notoriously, non-standard or ritualized sex is sometimes practiced. This accounts for Tantra's negative reputation in some quarters and its reception in the West primarily as acollection of sexual practices. Although some today extol Tantra's liberating qualities, the role of women remains controversial. Traditionally there are two views of women and Tantra. Either the feminine is a metaphor and actual women are altogether absent, or Tantra involves the transgressive use of women's bodies to serve maleinterests. Loriliai Biernacki presents an alternative view, in which women are revered, worshipped, and considered worthy of spiritual attainment. Her primary sources are a collection of eight relatively modern Tantric texts written in Sanskrit from the 15th through the 18th century. Her analysisof these texts reveals a view of women that is generally positive and empowering. She focuses on four topics: 1) the Kali Practice, in which women appear not only as objects of reverence but as practitioners and gurus; 2) the Tantric sex rite, especially in the case that, contrary to other Tantrictexts, the preference is for wives as ritual consorts; 3) feminine language and the gendered implications of mantra; and 4) images of male violence towards women in tantric myths. Biernacki, by choosing to analyse eight particular Sanskrit texts, argues that within the tradition of Tantra thereexists a representation of women in which the female is an authoritative, powerful, equal participant in the Tantric ritual practice.

    In 1947, East Bengal was drenched with as much blood as was shed in Punjab. Seen through the eyes of Maloy Krishna Dhar as a young boy making the perilous journey to India-escaping to a 'new' India from an 'old' India that had become East Pakistan, the memoir tells the story of the rapid deterioration of age-old bonds between Bengali, Hindus and Muslims, of the cruelest violence comparable to the worst genocides in history.from amazon.com

    As a senior member who has managed various responsibilities in the RSS over the years, Ratan Sharda has achieved his intent ably in this book.It has long been acknowledged that the best way to know the RSS (or the National Volunteer Organisation) is to join it. Perhaps this is why there is very little literature on how the RSS functions. This vacuum has been skilfully filled by the author through his book, RSS 360º - Demystifying Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.There is generally a set format for writing about organisations, especially national level ones such as the RSS. Ratan Sharda has not, however, followed the beaten path. The intent behind his book is to lift the allegedveil of secrecy from the organisation. He presents a comprehensive view of the Sangh's philosophy, its workings and its humungous reach through various affiliate organisations across India, in a simple and easy flowing manner.

    Nowhere was this better demonstrated than at Lucknow and Cawnpore. At the latter a garrison of 240 with 375 British women and children battled to survive a siege by 3,000 mutineers led by Nana Sahib. Unimaginable horrors of artillery and sniper fire coupled with the crippling heat of the Indian summer took their toll. An offer of safe passage was treacherously reneged on and the massacres which followed drew a terrible retribution when relief finally arrived, in the shape of Generals Havelock and Neil. At Lucknow, the 1800 British men, women and children supported by more than 1,000 loyal sepoys resisted assaults by 20,000 mutineers, despite heavy casualties and sickness. Sir Colin Campbell's force got through to relieve the garrison and evacuate civilians in November 1857 but the city was not restored to British control until March 1858.These dramatic events are brought to life in this first rate history.

    For young Abhay Kumar, who worked his way from a rural background into the Indian Diplomacy, this was the magic mantra. Kumar’s simple but inspiring book tells his story as it is. From the banks of the river’s valley to Silicon Valley, how his brothers and he overcame their handicaps to achieve what they eventually did. This is also a commentary on the tremendous change in India, its values and culture and how education and competition can make way for anybody to break out of the mould.

    Much has been written about the Punjab and the creation of West Pakistan; by contrast, little is known about the partition of Bengal. This remarkable book by an acknowledged expert on the subject assesses the social, economic and political consequences of partition. Using compelling sources, the book, which was originally published in 2007, shows how and why the borders were redrawn, how the creation of new nation states led to unprecedented upheavals, massive shifts in population and wholly unexpected transformations of the political landscape in both Bengal and India. The book also reveals how the spoils of partition, which the Congress in Bengal had expected from the new boundaries, were squandered over the twenty years which followed. This is an intriguing and challenging work whose findings change our understanding and its consequences for the history of the subcontinent.

    Vinayak Chaturvedi's analysis provides an important intervention in the social and cultural history of India by examining the nature of peasant discourses and practices during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Through rigorous archival study and fieldwork, Chaturvedi shows that peasants in Gujarat were active in the production and circulation of political ideas, establishing critiques of the state and society while promoting complex understandings of political community. By turning to the heartland of M.K. Gandhi's support, Chaturvedi shows that the vast majority of peasants were opposed to nationalism in the early decades of the twentieth century. He argues that nationalists in Gujarat established power through the use of coercion and violence, as they imagined a nation in which they could dominate social relations. Chaturvedi suggests that this littletold story is necessary to understand not only anticolonial nationalism but the direction of postcolonial nationalism as well.

    Nicolas Chorier, one of the finest exponents of kite photography has spent the last 10 years traveling and photographing the length and breadth of India. Kite photography is unique, eco-friendly and gives a perspective that is not possible through other aerial means.

    Their marriage gave them much happiness and three children: Sanjay, Namrata and Priya. In 1981, Nargis Dutt died of cancer and in 2005, twenty-four years later, Sunil Dutt suffered a fatal heart attack. This is a deeply touching and thoughtful look at the life and times of stars Nargis and Sunil Dutt, from childhood, through the many ups and downs they faced, to the moment they passed on and became memories forever embedded in the hearts of their children. Unlike many celebrity biographies, which by necessity often rely on second-hand views and opinions, this book gives us the detailing only a first-hand narrative can offer. Lavishly illustrated, Mr and Mrs Dutt is an honest and full of feeling account, told by their children who, at a young age, witnessed the many happy and tragic events, the big and small moments of life that shape a family history.

    It will bring together writings on India that have highlighted the transgression of norms--of heterosexuality, of feminine and masculine behavior, of recognizably gendered bodies, that declare ungoverned desire to be illegitimate. Also included is a section of select documents from different sexuality movements in the country. This book is part of the series of Contemporary Indian Feminism. The other books in the series are: Gender & Caste edited by Anupama Rao, Feminism in India edited by Maitreyee Chaudhuri, Dowry & Inheritance edited by Srimati Basu.

    Most men, says the author, know a lot about pleasing themselves but little about how to satisfy women. The author stresses that the pleasure of both partners is equally important during sex. The book is a fascinating treatise on how to be a good lover, sensitive to the needs of women. Most importantly the book is packaged in a rich silk covering and comes in a special binding with a magnetic flap—making it perfect for gifting.

    This book provides a look into one of the greatest mystical secrets of India - the hidden oracle. It also tells readers how to find the Naadis for themselves.

    Selected Poems of Dilip Chitre

    British and Indian officials had designed a modern, architecturally distinct city center adjacent to the old walled city, administered under new methods of urban governance.In Making Lahore Modern, William J. Glover investigates the traditions that shaped colonial Lahore. In particular, he focuses on the conviction that both British and Indian actors who implemented urbanization came to share: that the material fabric of the city could lead to social and moral improvement. This belief in the power of the physical environment to shape individual and collective sentiments, he argues, links the colonial history of Lahore to nineteenth-century urbanization around the world.Glover highlights three aspects of Lahore’s history that show this process unfolding. First, he examines the concepts through which the British understood the Indian city and envisioned its transformation. Second, through a detailed study of new buildings and the adaptation of existing structures, he explores the role of planning, design, and reuse. Finally, he analyzes the changes in urban imagination as evidenced in Indian writings on the city in this period. Throughout, Glover emphasizes that colonial urbanism was not simply imposed; it was a collaborative project between Indian citizens and the British.Offering an in-depth study of a single provincial city, Glover reveals that urban change in colonial India was not a monolithic process and establishes Lahore as a key site for understanding the genealogy of modern global urbanism.William J. Glover is associate professor of architecture at the University of Michigan.

    As the ?summer capital? of the British, Shimla saw remarkable building activity during the colonial era, and some of the finest structures of that time still stand over its seven hills. Abundant specimens of the Alpine and the Swiss Bavarian chalets, the Norman baronial style and neo-Gothic structures validate its likeness to a European town. The famous Mall with its resemblance to an English home county?s marketplace has, perhaps, one of the longest stretches of pedestrian shopping anywhere in the world; and the town of Shimla also holds what may well be one of the last urban forests ever to be found on our planet. Beauty is aplenty also in the hidden trails and picnic spots, in the surrounding forests, nearby villages and the snow-capped Himalayan peaks that Shimla offers a panoramic view of. The best way to enjoy Shimla is by walking as the oldest residents would vow and these walks are designed to take you through the town?s rich history, heritage and natural beauty.

    The sheer size of India, combined with its history and religious diversity, is reflected in the country's cuisine. Complete Book of Indian Cooking provides hundreds of user-friendly and great-tasting recipes from all regions and cultures of this extraordinary country.Local/regional ingredients deliver unusual flavors that satisfy the search for new tastes. Each recipe includes background information that helps the home cook become more knowledgeable about -- and comfortable with -- Indian food.Here are examples of the hundreds of exotic, yet easy, recipes:Starters like fenugreek and spinach fritters (methi palak pakoras), and steamed corn bread (corn dhoklas) Bengali shrimp and long squash (lau chingri); fried dumplings with yogurt and chutney (pahi pakodi chaat) Kerala lamb biriyani; assamese roast chicken (poora kukura); Coory egg and potato curry Vegetarian delights like curried spinach and cheese (saag panir), and chickpea flour dumplings (besan ke gatte) Refreshing desserts like baked bananas with coconut and jaggery. In addition to all the regional foods, the book features chaat the crunchy, sweet and wildly popular street food of India. The chapter on Indian meal traditions and customs rounds out this comprehensive handbook on Indian cuisine.

    In this book, Prachi Deshpande considers the importance of this period for a variety of political projects including anticolonial/Hindu nationalism and the non-Brahman movement, as well as popular debates throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries concerning the meaning of tradition, culture, and the experience of colonialism and modernity. Sampling from a rich body of literary and cultural sources, Deshpande highlights shifts in history writing in early modern and modern India and the deep connections between historical and literary narratives. She traces the reproduction of the Maratha period in various genres and public arenas, its incorporation into regional political symbolism, and its centrality to the making of a modern Marathi regional consciousness. She also shows how historical memory provided a space for Indians to negotiate among their national, religious, and regional identities, pointing to history's deeper potential in shaping politics within thoroughly diverse societies.A truly unique study, "Creative Pasts" examines the practices of historiography and popular memory within a particular colonial context, and illuminates the impact of colonialism on colonized societies and cultures. Furthermore, it shows how modern history and historical memory are jointly created through the interplay of cultural activities, power structures, and political rhetoric.

    A. Nizami.

    Sanjam Ahluwalia draws attention to the history of Indian birth control by including western activists such as Margaret Sanger and Marie Stopes alongside important Indian campaigners. In revealing the elitist politics of middle-class feminists, Indian nationalists, Western activists, colonial authorities, and the medical establishment, Ahluwalia finds that they all sought to rationalize procreation and regulate women while invoking competing notions of freedom, femininity, and family. _x000B__x000B_Ahluwalia's remarkable interviews with practicing midwives in rural northern India fills a gaping void in the documentary history of birth control and shows that the movement has had little appeal to nonelite groups in India. She argues that elitist birth control efforts failed to account for Indian women's values and needs and have worked to restrict reproductive rights rather than liberate subaltern Indian women since colonial times. _x000B__x000B_

    This collection of over a hundred pieces from Sham Lal's writings as a columnist analyse with a new zing the larger forces at work in today's world and their impact on the course of events in this country.

    Focusing on topical issues and with an introduction by Mushirul Hasan, this important collection of Jawaharlal Nehru's speeches showcases the relevance of his vision in India today.

    It is hoped that the present volume will prove helpful, not only to students of Hindi in India and abroad, but also to those whose mother tongue is Hindi, especially those engaged in translation work. The needs of Indian students, wishing to improve their knowledge of English have also been kept in mind and it is for them that a simple system has been devised giving the pronunciation of the English words in Nagari script. This system is fully explained on the end-papers, where the reader will also find all the symbols and abbreviations that have been used.One feature of this dictionary will, I trust, prove useful both to students of Hindi and to translators. The various meanings of the English words are made clear by additional indications in brackets and are immediately followed by the Hindi equivalents; if necessary, different shades of meanings are separated by a semi-colon. This arrangement will enable the reader to pick out the world he needs. The meanings are normally numbered; where this was deemed superfluous the different meanings are separated by a semi-colon. All Hindi feminine words are marked with an asterisk; a few words are marked with two asterisks to indicate the fact that they are widely used in both genders. In the use of hyphens I have usually followed the Concise Oxford Dictionary. Hyphenated words and compound not entered in the strictly alphabetical order, will easily by found under the headword. Compounds written in two words are entered under the first word e.g. mother tongue under mother.In the choice of English words and their meanings, I have been guided by the Concise Oxford Dictionary (1964), Webster's New World Dictionary (College Edition, 1964) and the Penguin English Dictionary (1965). For the Hindi translation of technical terms, I have relied on my Technical English-Hindi Glossary and various other technical dictionaries, among which the excellent Science Glossary I (Central Hindi Directorate, Delhi 1964) takes pride of place.Only such technical terms have been included as are found in the three general English dictionaries mentioned above. Fauna and flora not found in India have normally not been included. For Indian fauna I have been greatly helped by Mr. Suresh Singh's (Lucknow, 1958). For Indian flora the published volumes of the Wealth of India (Vol. I-VII; Delhi, 1948-1966) have proved useful and especially the unfailing courtesy of Prof. Dr. and Mrs. R. Mishra (B.H.U., Varanasi).

    Author of over a thousand books on different aspects of Islam, his work sought to defend the Islamic scholarly tradition and to articulate its authority in an age of momentous religious and political change. In this authoritative biography, Muhammad Qasim Zaman offers a comprehensive and highly accessible account of Thanawi’s multifaceted career and thought, whilst also providing a valuable introduction to Islam in modern South Asia.

    From the design of carriages to the architecture of stations, employment hierarchies, and the construction of employee housing, Laura Bear explores the new public spaces and social relationships created by the railway bureaucracy. She then traces their influence on the formation of contemporary Indian nationalism, personal sentiments, and popular memory. Her probing study challenges entrenched beliefs concerning the institutions of modernity and capitalism by showing that these rework older idioms of social distinction and are legitimized by forms of intimate, affective politics. Drawing on historical and ethnographic research in the company town at Kharagpur and at the Eastern Railway headquarters in Kolkata (Calcutta), Bear focuses on how political and domestic practices among workers became entangled with the moralities and archival technologies of the railway bureaucracy and illuminates the impact of this history today. The bureaucracy has played a pivotal role in the creation of idioms of family history, kinship, and ethics, and its special categorization of Anglo-Indian workers still resonates. Anglo-Indians were formed as a separate railway caste by Raj-era racial employment and housing policies, and other railway workers continue to see them as remnants of the colonial past and as a polluting influence. The experiences of Anglo-Indians, who are at the core of the ethnography, reveal the consequences of attempts to make political communities legitimate in family lines and sentiments. Their situation also compels us to rethink the importance of documentary practices and nationalism to all family histories and senses of relatedness. This interdisciplinary anthropological history throws new light not only on the imperial and national past of South Asia but also on the moral life of present technologies and economic institutions.

    As such this book makes an important contribution to histories of the mutiny-rebellion, British colonial South Asia, British expansion in the Indian Ocean and incarceration and transportation. Coinciding with the 150th anniversary of the mutiny-rebellion, this book will be of interest to academics and students researching the history of colonial India, the history of empire and expansion and the history of imprisonment and incarceration.

    The book focuses particularly on the relationship of women's ritual practices to domesticity, exposing and exploring the nuances, complexities, and limits of this relationship. In many cultural and historical contexts, including contemporary India, women's everyday lives tend to revolve heavily around domestic and interpersonal concerns, especially care for children, the home, husbands, and other relatives. Hence, women's religiosity also tends to emphasize the domestic realm and the relationships most central to women. But women's religious concerns certainly extend beyond domesticity. Furthermore, even the domestic religious activities that Hindu women perform may not merely replicate or affirm traditionally formulated domestic ideals but may function strategically to reconfigure, reinterpret, criticize, or even reject such ideals.This volume takes a fresh look at issues of the relationship between Hindu women's ritual practices and normative domesticity. In so doing, it emphasizes female innovation and agency in constituting and transforming both ritual and the domestic realm and calls attention to the limitations of normative domesticity as a category relevant to many forms of Hindu women's religious practice.