They also saw the structure of the army, with its recruitment on the basis of caste and religion, as incompatible with their hopes for a new secular nation.India has successfully preserved its democracy, however, unlike many other colonial states that inherited imperial "divide and rule" armies, and unlike its neighbor Pakistan, which inherited part of the same Indian army in 1947. As Steven I. Wilkinson shows, the puzzle of how this happened is even more surprising when we realize that the Indian Army has kept, and even expanded, many of its traditional "martial class" units, despite promising at independence to gradually phase them out.Army and Nation draws on uniquely comprehensive data to explore how and why India has succeeded in keeping the military out of politics, when so many other countries have failed. It uncovers the command and control strategies, the careful ethnic balancing, and the political, foreign policy, and strategic decisions that have made the army safe for Indian democracy. Wilkinson goes further to ask whether, in a rapidly changing society, these structures will survive the current national conflicts over caste and regional representation in New Delhi, as well as India's external and strategic challenges.

    And yet this ancient land and its varied societies experienced prolonged and intense interaction with the peoples and cultures of East and Southeast Asia, Europe, Africa, and especially Central Asia and the Iranian plateau.   Richard M. Eaton tells this extraordinary story with relish and originality, as he traces the rise of Persianate culture, a many-faceted transregional world connected by ever-widening networks across much of Asia. Introduced to India in the eleventh century by dynasties based in eastern Afghanistan, this culture would become progressively indigenized in the time of the great Mughals (sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries). Eaton brilliantly elaborates the complex encounter between India's Sanskrit culture—an equally rich and transregional complex that continued to flourish and grow throughout this period—and Persian culture, which helped shape the Delhi Sultanate, the Mughal Empire, and a host of regional states. This long-term process of cultural interaction is profoundly reflected in the languages, literatures, cuisines, attires, religions, styles of rulership and warfare, science, art, music, and architecture—and more—of South Asia.

    But the Muslim world seemed far away, remote, and irrelevant to our daily lives. Then came the terrorist attacks of 9/11, followed by attacks at Fort Hood, the Boston Marathon, San Bernardino, and more. Now terrorists seem to be emerging everywhere, unleashing senseless death and destruction on our nation. They are here, and their goal is nothing less than global conquest. Motivated by ancient prophecies, they are flooding into Western countries determined to conquer our countries and establish a global Muslim caliphate. In The Barbarians Are Here, Dr. Michael Youssef provides clear insight into the motives and mission of the Islamic extremists. He offers practical steps we can take right now to begin a New Reformation that will restore the hope of Western civilization. It's not too late. We are not doomed to destruction, even though the barbarians are already here. But we haven't a moment to lose. "Let this book shape how you think, pray, and take the Gospel to the ends of the earth." -- R. Albert Mohler, Jr., President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary "I want every American, every citizen, and every member of my family to read this book. It is foolhardy not to." -- Pat Boone, Entertainer, Pat Boone Enterprises

    "The Last Nizam" is the story of an extraordinary dynasty, the Nizams of Hyderabad, and how the heir to India's richest princely state gave up a kingdom and retired to the dusty paddocks of outback Australia. With vivid detail and anecdote John Zubrzycki charts the rise of the Nizams to fabulous wealth and prominence under the Mughal emperors of India, giving a rich and vibrant portrait of a realm soaked in blood and intrigue. Above all he describes the strange - sometimes comic, sometimes tragic - life of Mukarram Jah, His Exalted Highness, the Rustam of the Age, the Aristotle of the Times, Wal Mamaluk, Asaf Jah VIII, the Conqueror of Dominions, the Regulator of the Realm, Nawab Mir Barakat Ali Khan Bahadur, The Victor in Battles, the Leader of Armies, the last Nizam, the man who left behind the diamonds of Golconda and the palaces of Hyderabad to drive bulldozers in the Australian bush. A delicate and detailed work, "The Last Nizam" adds a crucial chapter to the history of India, capturing the very scent of wine, women and wealth whose appetites kept the Nizams in news and scandal while simultaneously deepening their legend.

    The novel starts with the news of theft of an ancient idol of Goddess Saraswati from a Hoysala temple. The journalist visits the place, which incidentally happens to be his ancestral town. The canvas of the novel encompasses almost the whole of India and most of the spheres like education, communal politics, business, political corruption and destruction of traditional moral values. The novel ends with the clamping of the so-called Emergency by Indira Gandhi in 1975.

    Of the wider issue of global politics, he reasons, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism has been a side effect. And religious intolerance places the minority communities of the country in a precarious position.They have to come to terms with a rapidly changing situation. A White Trail is an ethnographic study of these communities and the changes they are having to face. At a time when almost all accounts of religious minorities in the country focus on the persecution and discrimination they experience, A White Trail delves deeper into their lives, using the occasion of religious festivals to gain a deeper insight into the psyche of Pakistani Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Zoroastrians and Bahais. It seeks to understand, through the oral testimonies of the members of these communities, larger socio-political issues arising from the situation.A White Trail originally began as a series of newspaper articles written by Lahore - based Haroon Khalid for Pakistans widely - circulated weekly, The Friday Times.

    It became one of the largest empires on the planet with an army of almost one million men at arms and an economy that was stronger than any other at the time. The Mughal Empire developed new art and architecture, and some of the things created during this empire are still regarded as iconic representations of India.Although most of its conquests were achieved through the application of military power, this was also a relatively liberal, pluralist empire which successfully assimilated people from varied cultural and religious background into a total population of over one hundred and fifty million. Perhaps that is surprising given that this empire originated with an invasion by nomadic Mongols from the north; the very first Mughal emperor was a direct descendent of both Genghis Khan and Tamerlane.Then, just when the Mughal Empire seemed to have become invincible, it disintegrated in an astonishingly short space of time. This book tells the story of how the Mughal Empire was able to achieve almost unimaginable power and wealth and how within the nature of that success were the elements which eventually tore the empire apart. This is the complex, exciting story of the rapid rise and even more rapid collapse of the mighty, colorful, vibrant, and complex Mughal Empire.

    The articles of faith, which all Muslims believe in, are: Unity of God, Angels, Prophets, Holy Books and Life after Death.

    Manekshaw rose to become the 8th Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army in 1969 and under his command, Indian forces conducted victorious campaigns against Pakistan in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 that led to the liberation of Bangladesh in December 1971.

    Walter Crocker, the Australian high commissioner to India, admired Nehru the man—his grace, style, intelligence and energy—and was deeply critical of many of his political decisions—the invasion of Goa, India’s Kashmir policy, the Five Year Plans. This book, written shortly after Nehru’s death, is full of invaluable first hand observations about the man and his politics. Many of Crocker’s points, too—especially the implications of the Five Year Plans and of the introduction of democracy to India—are particularly relevant today.

    Set in Aligarh in the early 1960s, after the dust of Partition had ostensibly settled, Topi Shukla is an intriguing story about two friends--one Hindu and one Muslim.

    Seven years later Pakistan was created amidst a communal holocaust of unprecedented proportions. Concentrating on the All-India Muslim League and its leader, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, The Sole Spokesman assesses the role of religious communalism and provincialism in shaping the movement for Pakistan.

    Build lakes, plant trees. Gowda built a hundred lakes and lined the wide avenues of the city with leafy trees.After India gained independence, Bangalore became known as a pensioners’ paradise. In the early 1980s, the city reinvented itself once again, this time as the home of some of the world’s most outstanding entrepreneurs. Very rapidly, aided by the dozens of engineering schools that had sprouted in the city since Independence, Bangalore became the hub of India’s information technology (IT) revolution. In the twenty-first century, the city is trying to cope with the problems that have accompanied its explosive growth, and enormous success— crumbling infrastructure, traffic jams, soaring real estate prices, corruption and chaos. Despite the challenges it faces, Bangalore continues to be one of the world’s most distinctive and interesting cities. T. J. S. George walks us through both ‘old’ and ‘new’ Bangalore—from gleaming skyscrapers and lively dance studios to colonial-era bungalows marked by quaint little name-stones, from legendary eating places like Koshy’s and Mavalli Tiffin Room (MTR) to shining new eateries that serve craft beer.