India Books

This is a wonderful resource book to teach Ancient India. India is more difficult to find material to use in the classroom so this is a nice surprise to find. I have used several of the suggested activities in my classroom and have shared the book with other teachers. I would recommend this resource book for teachers.

About the Book :
This book is an outcome of a comprehensive study of the kaleidoscopic variety of furniture articles prevailing during the period second century BC to sixth-seventh centuries AD. The book is divided into various chapters highlighting the enormous details of each item of the furniture articles like thrones, chairs, wheeled furniture, seats, wicker stands, tables, bedsteads, etc. The indigenous traits and the foreign impacts on the Indian furniture are brilliantly highlighted. To achieve this end, the sculptures of Barhut, Sanchi, Amaravati, Nagarjunakonda, Mathura, Gandhara and the murals of Ajanta, supplemented by the literary data have been brought within the compass of the study.

About the Author :
Prof. Dr. K.Krishna Murthy, M.A., Ph.D., D.Litt., F.R.A.S. (London), MRAI (London, MRAA (London), a distinguished archaeologist and a celebrated at historian was born on 21-6-1930 at Anatapur in Andhra Pradesh. After schooling in Municipal High School at Kurnool and collegiate education in Government Arts College, Anatapur, he took his B.A. (Hons) and M.A. from Andhra University, Waltair. A double doctor, he was awarded Ph.D. and D.Litt (Doctor of Letters) by the Nagpur University for his outstanding treatises in the field of archaeology. In recognition of his scholarly eminence, he was elected in 1972 a fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (FRAS) and a member of M.R.A.I and MRAA (London) in 1985 and member of the World Archaeology Congress, South East Asia in 1992, an honour only few Indians enjoy.
He was associated with the Archaeological Survey of India for 34 years and served it with distinction, dignity and integrity in various capacities to become Superintending Archaeologist. He is also a former professor of History and Indian Culture in Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Prashanthinilayam and its first Dean Faculty of Arts for some time. A prolific writer, he has authored about thirty books and hundreds of research papers in various national and international journals of repute. His specialisation in Buddhism resulting in the publication of authentic works on art-history, archaeology, Buddhist iconography, art, architecture, religion, theology, philosophy and literature has earned him celebrity. His deputation to Sri Lanka on Indo-Sri Lanka Cultural Exchange Agreement in 1978, enriched his longing to undertake Buddhist studies in greater depth.

Contents :
Preface
Abbreviations
List of Figures
1. Introductory
2. thrones : Asana (s)
3. Chairs
4. Wheeled Furniture
5. Seats and Moras
6. Wicker Stands
7. Tables
8. Foot-stools or Foot-rests or Pada-pithas
9. Bessteads
10. Pillows and Cushions
11. Boxes
12. Curtains
13. Epilogue
Bibliography
Index

About the Book :
The material progress of any country, apart from other things, depends upon mining, metallurgy and on metal industries. The present book is a study of the subject in the background of ancient India and is based on archaeological, literary and technological studies, covering every phase, commencing from the earliest times up to the nineteenth century.
The book is spread over five chapters. Chapter 1 deals with the scope of the study, including a short survey of the history of metals in the ancient Indian metallurgy and metal industries. Chapter 2 deals extensively with the origins of copper metallurgy. Chapter 3 is devoted to the study of noble metals e.g. gold and silver. Chapter 4 contains an exhaustive study of Indian iron metallurgy, with special reference to the steel production of southern India. The study of miscellaneous metals like brass, tin, zinc and lead is dealt with in Chapter 5.

About the Author :
Dr. G. Kuppuram was born in 1956 and received his education at Madras and Karnataka. He graduated in 1976 and received his doctorate are post-doctorate in 1981 and 1986 respectively in Science and Archaeology.
At present Dr. Kuppuram is Associate Professor of Archaeology at Egerton University, Njoro, Kenya. He has excavated different parts of India. His previous books include The Imperial Cholas in Karnataka which was his PhD Thesis has been published by Sundeep Prakashan in 1986. His other book Ancient Indian Mining Metallurgy and Metal Technology which was hit D.Litt. Thesis has been published by Sundeep Prakashan in 1989. His last successful book is History of Science and Technology in India and this has earned him great laurels from all over the world.
Dr. Kuppuram has contributed several research articles on History, Culture and Archaeology in various national and international journals. At present he is editing a book on Marine Archaeological Studies-Global perspectives.

Contents :
Volume I

Acknowledgements
List of Plates
List of Maps
Chapter 1 : Introduction
Chapter 2 : Copper and Bronze Industry
Chapter 3 : Noble Metals
Chapter 4 : Iron and Steel
Chapter 5 : Miscellaneous
Appendix
Selected Bibliography
Index

Volume II

Acknowledgements
List of Plates
List of Maps
Chapter 1 : Introduction
Chapter 2 : Copper and Bronze Industry
Chapter 3 : Noble Metals
Chapter 4 : Iron and Steel
Chapter 5 : Miscellaneous
Appendix
Selected Bibliography
Index

Kenoyer and Heuston have put together a solid introdution to (Ancient) South Asia. This book is written at about a middle school level and I use selections for this book with various middle school and upper elementary school students that I work with. Why is this book great? one reason: It has the most up to date scholarship presented in small chapters and units that can be used for teaching non-university students. For those of you familiar at all with the writing of academics know this is an extremely rare treat.

This is a very good book for those who are interested in World music and/or fusion music and want to be able to play all those beautifull and often complex rhythms that one hears in that type of music.

The first chapter is about the Rhythms from West Africa, it has a clear chapter on polyrhythms and a formula to figure them out. Chapter two deals with the rhythms from Bali, the one you will hear in Gamelan music, and chapter Three deals with Indian Rhythms, Both from North and South India.

And then in the fourth and final chapter one mixes all that rhythm knowledge to create new patterns, hence the name Future Possibilities.

If you do all the exercices in the book you are well one your way to play and understand the rhythms that masters like Trilok Gurtu and Glen Velez play.

Also recomended are Rhythm book authors like Reinhard Flatischler, Alan Dworsky, Sule Greg Vilson, Peter Magadini and Tom Klower.

See also the videos by Airto Moreira, Alex Acuna, Kalani and Paulo Mattioli.

The volume begins with a detailed account of the islands' history till 1900. The Andamans are believed to have been visited by the celebrated Venetian explorer Marco Polo in the fourteenth century. However, it was not until the late 1800s that Lt Archibald Blair of the British East India Company mapped them and established an outpost bringing them firmly under the Company's control. After the 1857 uprising, India's colonial rulers built the cellular jail--Kala Pani--for political prisoners.

In providing a comprehensive survey of the islands in the twentieth century, the volume discusses:

The geography of the islands including topographical and physical features unique to them.
The economy and its importance to shipping, transport, and communication in modern India.
Anthropological and sociological details, including a comprehensive portrait of the autochthonous people of the islands--the Onges, Shompens, Jarawas, Sentinelese, and Andamanese--who have permitted minimal intrusion of modern civilization into their lives.
The volume also includes a survey and analysis of the several rare and endangered species of plants and animals of the islands, and a colourful narrative of indigenous folk tales of the Car Nicobarese. Up-to-date and comprehensive, this gazetteer will significantly contribute to our knowledge and understanding of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The gazetteer is essential for anthropologists, sociologists, demographers, and activists working in organizations dealing with tribal issues, in addition to an informed lay audience."

Robinson provides a unique analysis of the Great Mutiny from the perspective of the British women involved. Robinson conveys, in a manner that strictly military writers do not, the scope of the Mutiny and its "domestic" impact.

Only another woman could have written this book. Robinson combines sympathy with a certain level of judgment of the actions and opinions of some of the participants in a straightforward way. She is unencumbered by the Victorian deference to women and current fear of radical feminism.

The selection of photographs-- current and historical-- and old wood cuts that accompany the text reflect great care and excellent judgment.

In all, an important addition to the field of Mutiny scholarship related in a very human way.

Food as a passion, a gift, a means of revenge, even a source of power - these are the themes Bulbal Sharma explores in her collectin of stories. Women weigh up the loss of a lover or the loss of weight; they consider whether hunger adn the thought of higher things are inextricably linked; they feast and crave and die fot their insatiable appetites.

Most research on opium during the nineteenth century has focused either on Britain or China. A good deal has been written on opium usage in Britain, as well as moral and medical attitudes towards the substance, and the history of Anglo-Chinese political and economic relationships generally give a prominent place to opium and its wars. Britain and China were primarily consumers during the century, and until late on, most of the drug came from India. By the 1890s, more poppies were being grown in China and the Middle East, and the market share enjoyed by Indian producers was being challenged.

Paul C. Winther's decision to concentrate his research on India is thus to be applauded, as is his exposition of debates about the value of opium as a protective and possible cure for cases of malaria. As he points out, the "malaria" diagnosis during his period was vague, and included many fevers that were subsequently differentiated, on the basis of subtly different clinical courses and a variety of specific causative agents. The malaria and opium nexus is consequently extremely tenuous, and nineteenth-century judgments about the drug's role in treating fevers were a heady mix of moral, economic, and psychological factors.

For readers like myself with a vested interest in his particular theme, Winther has much to offer. He has read widely and offers full descriptions of a number of works relevant to the topic. Almost half of the book is devoted to the evidence collected by the 1894 Royal Commission on Opium. He shows how the seven volumes of evidence and conclusions were collected and analysed, concentrating especially on the key medical member of the Commission, Sir William Roberts, a prominent Manchester physician. The Commission took evidence from a wide variety of witnesses, British as well as Indian, and they heard an equally wide variety of opinion, about the extent of opium use in India, as well as its medical value. Given the Government of India's need for the revenues from the drug, both as a source of export income and as a tidy profit from home sales (the Government controlled most production), the Committee's recommendation that the opium trade be continued is hardly surprising. Whether the Committee was convened simply to pacify the increasingly vocal activities of the Society for the Suppression of the Opium Trade is another matter.

Winther implies that there was collusion and deliberate selection of testimony favourable to the economic interests of the Government of India. The evidence, as presented here, is less compelling. Roberts certainly interpreted the evidence with which he had been presented to conclude that the medical value of opium was such that a prohibition on its sale (and export) would be unjustified. In addition, he drew on two earlier studies that purported to demonstrate the value of opium as an effective drug against malaria. Using hindsight, it is easy for Winther to show that these clinical studies were rather inconclusive and faulty. In his eagerness to condemn Roberts, Winther uses modern criteria of clinical evaluation, and at one point castigates Roberts for not being aware of Ronald Ross's researches on the mode of transmission of malaria. Given the fact that Roberts was writing two years before Ross published anything on the subject, this is historical hindsight with a vengeance.

Winther's study is a valuable contribution to our understanding of the Indian dimension of opium production and use. Its value to students of the history of malaria is less clear. He has uncovered some salient debates on the relative merits of opium and quinine in cases of "fever," but his trawling of the literature on fevers in nineteenth-century India is selective, and opium featured much less in this literature that an uncritical reading of this monograph would suggest.

These very emotion pact and often humorous poems are translated into very accessible english. I am using this book with my English literacy student who is a native speaker of Urdu. She is pleased with the translations. Note the "original" script used opposite the English translations is in Hindi, not Urdu.