The story of the raid has reverberated in Indian history, but largely during the raj. It was first depicted as a trauma for the Hindu population not in India, but in the House of Commons. The triumphalist accounts of the event in Turko-Persian chronicles became the main source for most eighteenth-century historians. It suited everyone and helped the British to divide and rule a multi-millioned subcontinent.In her new book, Romila Thapar, the doyenne of Indian historians, reconstructs what took place by studying other sources, including local Sanskrit inscriptions, biographies of kings and merchants of the period, court epics and popular narratives that have survived. The result is astounding and undermines the traditional version of what took place. These findings also contest the current Hindu religious nationalism that constantly utilises the conventional version of this history.

    The hostage-takers threaten to shoot pilgrims every day, unless the incumbent Government accedes to their demands. With the popular Hindu festival of Diwali just around the corner and elections less than six months away, the Government at the center is under immense pressure to act. What will the Government do? The army? The intelligence agencies? The common man? No terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Who are these men? Is there a larger plot? Faced with such unprecedented events, will the country descend into unimaginable anarchy or will it rise above the issues of collective apathy and greed that have plagued it since Independence?

    This novel is a unique and innovative take on the world of a Bihari youth who breaks many stereotypes. This novel revolves around the character of Rahul (a Bihari) who is living in Mumbai. The narration is filled with crisp humor and a distinctive comic tone which it a pleasant read, whilst delivering a strong social message. The book is authored by Shashikant Mishra and is published by Radhakrishna Prakashan in 2015.Rahul is a common Bihari youth who has been dreaming of living in Mumbai (the city of dreams) ever since his tender years. Hailing from an affluent family, he reaches Mumbai without much hassle. But its not all sunshine and rainbows as he settles down in the film capital of the country!He receives a significant culture shock and it takes ample time for Rahul to get adjusted to the fast paced life of the city. Rahul wants to become a civil servant and hence is preparing for the UPSC exams. He is duly focused on his goal and exam preparation until he gets a girl in his life, Shalu. Now Rahul is faced with the dilemma of choosing one - Shalu or the UPSC exam. What choice is Rahul going to make? Will he go with the love of his life? Or will he sacrifice his life for the sanctity of his professional career? Could there be an option where he can choose both? This is a gripping novel which answers all these questions and more.

    No less was the struggle of Indian manes against British rule and for freedom and liberation of the mother country. The author’s tribute to the martyrs and his letters to dear ones from Andamans, miscellaneous statements and writings are also included in this book. The first four epochs are covered in only hundred plus pages while the last two epochs span almost four hundred plus pages, signifying the importance that the author gave to this period.So far we have been given the picture of British rule, the history and politics in India by foreign and leftist writers, but in this book Veer Savarkar makes us look at the country’s history and politics from the Bharatiya perspective. Not only does he analyse the mistakes committed by Hindus since the time of Alexander’s invasion till the British rule, he tries to enlighten our minds with the prevalent situation in his time. All that he himself learnt from history, he tries to correct through this book of his.

    It is literature written originally in English by authors Indian by birth, ancestry or nationality. It is no part of English literature any more than American literature or Australian literature can be said to be a branch of English literature. It is legitimately a part of Indian literature since it's differentia is the expression in it of Indian ethos. Sahitya Akademi has accepted Indian English Literature as the most suitable applellation for this body of writing. The term emphasises two significant ideas: First that this literature constitutes one of the many streams that join the great ocean called Indian literature, which though written in different languages has an unmistakable unity: Secondly, that it is an inevitable product of the nativization of the English language to express the India sensibility. Professor Naik traces the course of this history from it's beginnings to recent times, dividing it into convenient periods, in an analytical, critical and engaging style.

    

    Convinced about the urgent need for an objective understanding about India’s past, before the onslaught of colonial rule, he decided to embark on an exploration of British-Indian archival material, based on documents emanating from commissioned surveys of the East India Company, lodged in various depositories spread over the British Isles. His pioneering historical research, conducted intensively over a decade, led to the publication of works that have since become classics in the field of Indian studies. This major work entitled "The Beautiful Tree" provides evidence from extensive early British administrators’ reports of the widespread prevalence of educational institutions in the Bengal and Madras Presidencies as well as in the Punjab, teaching a sophisticated curriculum, with daily school attendance by about 30% of children aged 6–15, where those belonging to communities who were classed as Shudras or even lower constituted a good number of students, and in some areas, for instance in Kerala, where Muslim girls were quite well represented.

    Curious about the places mentioned in the Ramayana, they set off on a journey of their own, following Rama's route from Ayodhya to the Dandakaranya forest and Panchavati (near Nashik) and on to Kishkindhya (close to Hampi), Rameshwaram and Sri Lanka.Along the way they would discover how closely the narrative of the Ramayana is linked to local folklore, and how the stories of the Ramayana and the moral framework that binds them together still speaks to the people who live in the land across which Rama, Sita and Lakshman made their journey.For the armchair traveller as well as the enthusiast for epic tales, this is a wonderful book with which to revisit the world of the Ramayana.

    The Untold Vajpayee : The Life and Times of A Poet Politician by ULLEKH NP , 9780670088782

    The first Indian Army officer to be promoted to the five-star rank of Field Marshal, Sam Bahadur continues to be the most admired of our Army Chiefs.

    Soldiers, mercenaries, free-booters. Europeans all, braving the heat and dust of India. They fought for wealth, for glory, and for sheer fun. Their glorious and inglorious exploits are full of thrill, romance, and violence. Ruskin Bond has recreated the turbulent and colourful India of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries with the soldiers of fortune strutting across the subcontinent. The saga of their lives and loves in Delhi, Jaipur, Aligarh, Sardhana, and Lucknow reads stranger than fiction.

    BRAND NEW, Exactly same ISBN as listed, Please double check ISBN carefully before ordering.

    Vikram Sampath, in this remarkable book, brings forth little known details of this fascinating woman who was known for her melodious voice, her multi-lingual skills, poetic sensibility, irresistible personality and her extravagant lifestyle. From her early days in Azamgarh and Banaras to the glory years in Calcutta when Gauhar ruled the world of Indian music, to her sad fall from grace and end in Mysore, the book takes the reader through the roller-coaster ride of this feisty musician. In the process, the author presents a view of the socio-historical context of Indian music and theatre during that period.

    He is undoubtedly one of India's most successful captains, one who moulded a new team when India was at its lowest ebb, reeling from the betting scandal. There can be no argument about his cricketing genius, right from the time he scored a Test century at Lord's to the time he led India to the 2003 World Cup final. But the world of cricketing fans is divided into those who adore him fiercely and despise him greatly. He could be arrogant on occasion: Ganguly allegedly refused to carry the drinks as a twelfth man. He constantly challenged authority. Greg Chappell discarded him from the team during his stint as coach. Ganguly cared little for convention: remember the bare-chested celebration at an Indian win? Yet, in all the years of his roller-coaster ride through Indian cricket, no one questioned the man's utter devotion to the game or his team. In this account of one of India's greatest cricketers, shot through with intimate details, Saptarshi Sarkar tackles controversies around the legendary cricketer head on. Racy and gripping, Sourav Ganguly: Cricket, Captaincy and Controversy investigates the big events in Dada's interesting career. It probes the symbiotic relationship between the man and the cricketer. What was Ganguly thinking before a match? Why did he demand that the grass be trimmed just before start of play at the Nagpur pitch? What was the Indian dressing room like? What was that Greg Chappell chapter all about? An unflinching biography of a man who never shied away from controversies, this is as much a ready reckoner for Sourav Ganguly fans as it is an examination of a crucial era in Indian cricket.

    R. Ambedkar, Subhas Chandra Bose and Vallabhbhai Patel steered the new nation in a direction that ensured it wasn t destroyed by sectarianism, casteism and authoritarianism. Because their wisdom found widespread acceptance, every time it seemed that the country would succumb to religious hatred, fissiparous tendencies or caste violence, disaster was averted as its leaders and its people stayed more or less true to the values on which the republic was founded. In recent times, however, attempts have been made to discredit these great Indians and devalue their contribution to the modern Indian state. In this thought-provoking book, award-winning biographer and historian Rajmohan Gandhi sets the record straight on the founding fathers as well as their great opponent, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Along the way, he answers questions of perennial interest Who was really responsible for Partition? Were Gandhi and Ambedkar enemies? Did the Mahatma weaken the country s Hindus? Was he anti-Muslim? Should India have been a Hindu Rashtra? Could the Kashmir issue have been dealt with differently? Would Bose and Patel have led the independent nation better than Gandhi and Nehru? Erudite, forthright and brilliantly argued, Understanding the Founding Fathers will help us know ourselves and our nation, and how we came to be this way.