Book picks similar to
Mahabharata Unravelled: Lesser-Known Facets of a Well-Known History by Ami Ganatra
non-fiction
history
india
indian-history
The Gnostic Gospels of Thomas, Mary & John
Anonymous - 1986
These books that were left out of the New Testament shed light on the life and relationships of Jesus Christ and his friends and family, especially his mother Mary.
Four Miles To Freedom: Escape From A Pakistani POW Camp
Faith Johnston - 2013
On 13 August 1972 Parulkar, along with Malvinder Singh Grewal and Harish Sinhji escaped from a POW camp in Rawalpindi. Four Miles To Freedom is their story.Based on interviews with eight Indian fighter pilots who helped prepare the escape and two who escaped, as well as research into other sources, Four Miles is also the moving, sometimes amusing, account of how twelve fighter pilots from different ranks and backgrounds coped with deprivation, forced intimacy, and the pervasive uncertainty of a year in captivity, and how they came together to support Parulkar's courageous escape.
The Gita For Children (IN)
Roopa Pai - 2015
and, erm, super difficult to read? - But isn’t the stuff it talks about way too complex for regular folks to understand? Prepare to besurprised. Roopa Pai's spirited, one-of-a-kind retelling of the epic conversation between Pandava prince Arjuna and his mentor and friendKrishna busts these and other such myths about the Bhagavad Gita. Lucid, thought-provoking and brimming with fun trivia, this book will staywith you long after you have turned the last page. Why haven't you read it yet?
Yayati: A Classic Tale of Lust
Vishnu Sakharam Khandekar - 1963
Yayati was a great scholar and one of the noblest rulers of olden times. He followed the shastras and was devoted to the welfare of his subjects. Even the King of Gods, Indra, held him in high esteem. Married to seductively beautiful Devyani, in love with her maid Sharmishtha, and father of five sons from two women, yet Yayati unabashedly declares, My lust for pleasure is unsatisfied. His quest for the carnal continued, sparing not even his youngest son, and exchanging his old age for his son s youth.
The Vedas
Chandrasekharendra Saraswati - 2006
They manifest the Divine Word in human speech. They reflect into human language the language of the Gods, the Divine powers that have created us and which rule over us. There are four Vedas, each consisting of four parts. The primary portion is the mantra or hymn section (samhita). To this are appended ritualistic teachings (brahmana) and theological sections (aranyaka). Finally philosophical sections (upanishads) are included. The hymn sections are the oldest. The others were added at a later date and each explains some aspect of the hymns or follows one line of interpreting them. The Vedas were compiled around the time of Krishna (c. 3500 B.C.), and even at that time were hardly understood. Hence they are very ancient and only in recent times has their spiritual import, like that of the other mystery teachings of the ancient world, begun to be rediscovered or appreciated even in India. Like the Egyptian teachings they are veiled, symbolic and subtle and require a special vision to understand and use properly. This book contains selected discourses of the Paramcharya rendered into English from Tamil by the late N.S.S.Rajan.Originally published in the year 1988 it has run into seven editions till date.
The World of Fatwas or the Shariah in Action
Arun Shourie - 1995
Study of Islamic canonical decisions (Fatwas) issued in India during the last hundred years.
The Secret of Secrets
Osho - 1983
It will show you the way to become more than the body and the way to bloom - how not to remain a seed but to become a golden flower. What, in India, they call the one thousand-petalled lotus, in China they call the golden flower. It is a symbol that represents perfection, totality. Moreover, the flower represents the actualisation of the potential - the beauty, the grandeur, the splendour of being.This treatise, The Secret of Secrets, is very ancient - possibly one of the most ancient treatises in the world - at least twenty-five centuries old. But twenty-five centuries can be traced back very easily. And this treatise is also, uniquely, a great synthesis of all the great religions. The Bible belongs to the Christians, the Talmud belongs to the Jews, the Vedas belong to the Hindus, the Dhammapada to the Buddhists, the Tao Te Ching to the Taoists. But this small book, The Secret of Secrets, belongs to no one in particular, or it belongs to all.It is heavily based on Taoist teachings, a flowering of the Taoist approach to life and existence. But it is not only that - Zarathustra has played a role; his teachings are incorporated within it. Buddhist teachings have also been integrated, and a certain esoteric school of Christians, the Nestorians, have played their part. It is one of the most synthetical approaches.
Sons of Gods: Mahabharata
Sharon Maas - 2011
The Mahabharata belongs in the annals of world literature, and every educated person should be familiar with it. Its message is timeless (without it being a "message" book), and especially relevant in these turbulent times. Western readers in particular should be reading the Mahabharata, including non-resident Indians who may have lost touch with their roots.SONS OF GODS -- MAHABHARATA is kaleidoscopic in its beauty and intricacy. The hurdle of the tale's massive scope has always daunted translators, and the difficulty of prising the right tone from an ancient grand epic to suit a modern and Western audience has relegated it to largely academic obscurity.
What's saved it for us is that Sharon Maas knows full well that love, betrayal, lust, envy, pride, devotion, and heroism never go out of style. SONS OF GODS is a literary soap opera with a soul that spans the full horizon."The highest literature transcends regionalism, and through it, when we are properly attuned, we realise the essential oneness of the human family."The Mahabharata is of this class. It belongs to the world and not only to India. To the people of India, indeed, this epic has been an unfailing and perennial source of spiritual strength. Learnt at the mother’s knee with reverence and love, it has inspired great men to heroic deeds as well as enabled the humble to face their trials with fortitude and faith."From: Preface to the Second Edition of The Mahabharata, by C. Rajagopalachari; Madras 1952
The Mahabharata: A Modern Rendering, Vol. 1
Ramesh Menon - 2006
First composed by the Maharishi Vyasa in verse, it has come down the centuries in the timeless oral tradition of guru and sishya, profoundly influencing the history, culture, and art of not only the Indian subcontinent but most of south-east Asia. At 100,000 couplets, it is seven times as long as the Iliad and the Odyssey combined: far and away the greatest recorded epic known to man.The Mahabharata is the very Book of Life: in its variety, majesty and, also, in its violence and tragedy. It has been said that nothing exists that cannot be found within the pages of this awesome legend. The epic describes a great war of some 5000 years ago, and the events that led to it. The war on Kurukshetra sees ten million warriors slain, brings the dwapara yuga to an end, and ushers in a new and sinister age: this present kali yuga, modern times.At the heart of the Mahabharata nestles the Bhagavad Gita, the Song of God. Senayor ubhayor madhye, between two teeming armies, Krishna expounds the eternal dharma to his warrior of light, Arjuna. At one level, all the restless action of the Mahabharata is a quest for the Gita and its sacred stillness. After the carnage, it is the Gita that survives, immortal lotus floating upon the dark waters of desolation: the final secret!With its magnificent cast of characters, human, demonic, and divine, and its riveting narrative, the Mahabharata continues to enchant readers and scholars the world over. This new rendering brings the epic to the contemporary reader in sparkling modern prose. It brings alive all the excitement, magic, and grandeur of the original - for our times.
Evolution Impossible: 12 Reasons Why Evolution Cannot Explain Life on Earth
John F. Ashton - 2012
In Evolution Impossible, Dr. John Ashton uses discoveries in genetics, biochemistry, geology, radiometric dating, and other scientific disciplines to explain why the theory of evolution is a myth. Regardless of your level of scientific education, you will finish this book able to cite 12 reasons why evolution cannot explain the origin of life.
Blood Island: An Oral History of the Marichjhapi Massacre
Deep Halder - 2019
Deep Halder is one of them.' - Amitava Kumar In 1978, around 1.5 lakh Hindu refugees, mostly belonging to the lower castes, settled in Marichjhapi an island in the Sundarbans, in West Bengal. By May 1979, the island was cleared of all refugees by Jyoti Basu's Left Front government. Most of the refugees were sent back to the central India camps they came from, but there were many deaths: of diseases, malnutrition resulting from an economic blockade, as well as from violence unleashed by the police on the orders of the government. Some of the refugees who survived Marichjhapi say the number of those who lost their lives could be as high as 10,000, while the-then government officials maintain that there were less than ten victims. How does an entire island population disappear? How does one unearth the truth and the details of one of the worst atrocities of post-Independent India? Journalist Deep Halder reconstructs the buried history of the 1979 massacres through his interviews with survivors, erstwhile reporters, government officials and activists with a rare combination of courage, conscientiousness and empathy.
A Brief History of Modern India (2019-2020 Edition) by Spectrum Books
Spectrum Books Pvt.Ltd.
The political and socio-economic developments that have influenced the growth of modern India have been dealt with in independent chapters.
Why Be Catholic?: Understanding Our Experience and Tradition
Richard Rohr - 1989
It would alsomake a good RCIA resource as well as a blockbuster stimulus fordiscussions."—Book Nook, Pecos BenedictineThe authors answer the question, "Why Be Catholic?" fairly and squarely, showing a deep appreciation about what is good in Catholicism and a penetrating honesty about the Church's shortcomings. Rohr and Martos also examine what it means to be Catholic in the United States today. Finally, to answer the title question in a more personal way, they present portraits of some outstanding Catholics, especially those we call saints, who have found personal fulfillment by living their faith to the utmost.After reading this book, you will appreciate more fully the unique heritage of the Catholic Church. You will understand how its magnificent tradition enriches the lives of Catholics today and propels the ever-changing Church into the 21st century and third millennium. A popular resource for RCIA, evangelization and religious education.
Tolerance
Hendrik Willem van Loon - 1925
The history of Tolerance (or the lack thereof) in the history of man as described by one of the best popular historians of all time
Indus Valley Civilization: A History from Beginning to End
Hourly History - 2019
In the late 1800s, British engineers building some of the first railways in the Dominion of India discovered large numbers of bricks buried in the dusty plains of the Punjab. This was odd because historians were not aware of any cities or civilizations which might have constructed buildings in this area. It wasn’t until archeological expeditions in the 1920s that it was finally realized that these bricks were the remains of mighty cities built by a previously unknown ancient civilization. Inside you will read about... ✓ Discovery ✓ Excavation of Harappa ✓ Origins ✓ Life and Death in the Indus Valley ✓ Downfall of the Indus Valley Civilization And much more! This culture has become known as the Indus Valley Civilization or sometimes the Harappan Civilization, after Harappa, the first city to be discovered. It has proved to be one of the largest ancient cultures, having a population of over five million people at its height and covering an area of one and a half million square kilometers. It also created very large cities, carefully planned and laid out where almost every house had its own bath and flush toilet, thousands of years before such things became common in other parts of the world. Somehow, the Harappans seem to have controlled this vast territory without having a large army or by conquering other weaker cultures, and they did not seem to have a single ruler such as a king or emperor. Then, for reasons that still aren’t understood, this culture declined and then vanished so completely that all that was left were piles of bricks in the plains of present-day India and Pakistan. We are still learning about these people, but this is what we know so far about the mysterious Indus Valley Civilization.