India Books

OV Vijayan is one of the world's greatest writers of short fiction. Unfortunately he has not received the publicity he deserves. This collection is superb; ranging from horrifying allegories of power and corruption to biting sarcasm and satire to stunning stories of transcendental mysticism. Vijayan has translated the stories himself from Malayalam, and his language is fabulous -- in fact, I have read the stories in both the original and in translation and I am hard pressed to tell which is better. The almost-Victorian language he uses for his tales of terror adds deliciously to the gothic horror. In his transcendental stories, his language is much more naturalistic. There are several masterpieces in this collection: the title story, about a simple peasant going to the jail to receive the body of his executed son; the brilliant 'Wart' about absolute power; 'Airport' and 'Little Ones' about the magic that underlies Vijayan's mysterious Malabar Coast, India's stunningly and lushly beautiful Emerald Coast in the state of Kerala. This collection has been reissued in a new Penguin India Collected Edition -- along with novels "Khasak", "Infinity of Grace" and the "Saga of Dharmapuri". Definitely recommended. I am amazed Amazon does not carry this Collected Edition as it only came out in 1998. On another note, "The Wart" is being made into a film by filmmaker Murali Nair who won the Cannes 1999 "Camera d'Or" for best debut film. Presumably this will be a good film. Also, Vijayan is busy at this time translating his latest novel, "Generations", another masterpiece, a semi-autobiographical family saga a bit like Faulkner's or Marquez's or Gunter Grass' work.

The story of a chapter in the life of a person who is open to her whole environment. Without pre-conceptions to project at the local Nepalese villagers, where she lived during this story, she was welcomed by a community. She was drawn into the heart of their households to stir interesting foods around the fire. The ceremonies are described with clear articulation and a both academic and spiritual understanding. For Monica Connell flew to Nepal an anthropologist and returned years later, a phyilosopher.
This book was republished in German in summer, 2001.

Gloriously illustrated childrens book.

A wonderful story about the pastimes of Krsna, the perfect child.

When his friends are swollowed by a great serpent monster, Krsna must find a way to save his friends. With his special powers he slays the demon and rescues his friends.

Wonderful stylistic illustrations full of glorious detail and clever perspectives - the boys running through the forest, trailed by shadows and the shadows of the birds above and so on.

I'm so in love with this book, which was one of my childhood treasures, that I am going to purchase the two available second hand copies for my son and his cousins.

In fact, the illustrations which are slightly reminiscent of the earlier Disney movies (such as Beauty & the Beast) inspired me to become an animator.

I can't wait for the next generation to enjoy them, and this is one story I would kill to see an animated adventure of. Until then, love the book!

Very worth adding to your collection, and is a book which will surely be requested repeatedly.

kotori - ojadis@yahoo.com

This is an excellent showcase of the Indian Mughal art - the Taj Mahal being the epitome. Giv es an excellent overview of the history. The commentary is good and the pictures, escpecially of the Taj on a moonlit night, are breathtaking.

Also gives a brief on places to see in and aeound Agra. Makes one want to visit Agra more than before.

Oh man these guys are really fantastic. After reading this book and applying the simple principles within my AIDS cleared up within TWO WEEK.

A++++ would recommend to anyone with AIDS!

The illustrations in this UNESCO book - both the few black and white ones in the text and the exquisite color ones in the back section - are superb. Though brief, the text fully details the murky history of preservational thought during the time following first discovery in 1817 of what had been magnificently accomplished within the first century A.D. It also provides fascinating details such as how the rock walls were prepared and how the actual painting was done. The religious or sacred background here forms the foundation for later artistic developments in Asia much as Western art was influenced by early classical Greece and Rome. Both style and method could be instructive and inspirational to contemporary artists.

Contents :
Preface
List of Contributors
List of Text-Figures
List of Illustrations
Prof. Ajay Mitra Shastri : A Biographical Sketch
Bibliography of the Writing of Prof. Ajay Mtra Shastri

Volume I

Archaeology, History & Historical Geography
1. Earthquakes and Civilization-H.D. Sankalia
2. Marine Archaeology in India-S.R. Rao
3. Metallurgy in Ancient Karnataka-A.V. Narasimha Murthy
4. The Rise of Culture in Saryupur Plain (with Special Reference to Excavations of Narhan)-Purushottam Singh
5. The Burial Practices of Megalithic People : Some Observations-K.P. Rao
6. The Rgvedic Drsadvati-O.P. Bharadwaj
7. Interpretation and Archaeological Correlation of a passage from Pancavimsa Brahmana-H.A. Phadke
8. Elephantry through the Ages-G.N. Pant
9. The Naga Theory of Primitive History-H.L. Shukla
10. Political System in Early Coastal Andhra-P.V. Parabrahma Sastry
11. Ekamra Bhubaneswara-S. Tripathy
12. The So-called Murunda Rule in Orissa-Ashvini Agrawal
13. New Light on Yasodharman Visnuvardhana and the Hunas-Jagannath Agrawal
14. Political Conditions as Narrated in the Vipakasutra-Rasesh Jamindar
15. The Jain Angas and Towns-R.N. Mehta
16. Cattle-Rearing in Early Medieval India-Lallanji Gopal
17. Archaeological Excavations at Antichak-Bhagwant Sahai
18. The State and the Guilds in Medieval Andhradesa-P. Chenna Reddy
19. Identification of Supratisthita Ahara-H.S. Thosar
20. Slavery in Golden Goa-J. Velinker
21. Folkloristic Factors in Telegu Toponyms and Anthroponyms-S.S. Ramachandra Murthy

Epigraphy & Numismatics
22. Pataliputra and Asoka`s Edicts-B.N. Mukherjee
23. Discovery of a Brahmi Inscription at Ter-K.D. Kawadkar
24. The Royal Epithets and the Epithets of Mahaksatrapa Rudradaman-S.P. Tewari
25. Donative Inscriptions (Dana-Sasanas) : Interpretations and Uses for Historical Research-Cynthia Talbot
26. Mehuna Stone Inscription : Saka 747-V.B. Kolte
27. Lakhari Inscription of Maharajadhiraja Abha(ya) deva, Vikrama 1124-Ram Sharma
28. Two Inscription from Nadendla-C. Somasundara Rao
29. A Fourteenth Century Bilingual Inscription from Gujarat-Z.A. Desai
30. Decipherment Century Bilingual Inscription from Gujarat-Z.A. Desai
31. Early Indian Coins and Economic History : Trends & Prospects-Krishan Mohan Shrimali
32. An Introduction to the study of Numismatic Epigraphy-Bhaskar Chatterjee
33. Numismatic Symbols in Rock Paintings-V.S. Wakankar
34. On a Numismatic Symbol : Nandipada-A.L. Srivastava
35. Rajghat Salings and their Bearing on the Religious History of Varanasi-T.P. Verma
36. Some Rare Coins of Satavahana Dynasty-D. Raja Reddy & Suryanarayana Reddy
37. Maharathi Coins & their Chronology-T.V.G. Sastri
38. salankayana Coins from Ghantasala, District Krsna (A.P)-I.K. Sarma
39. Gold Coins of Vigraharajadeva-Prashant P. Kulkarni
40. A New Copper Coin of Iltutmish-Lalman
41. The Silver Coin of Ibrahim Lodi from Chanderi Mint of Malwa Sultanate-S.K. Bhatt
42. The Rechnique of Minting Coinage in North-Eastern States of India-R.D. Choudhary
43. Rebel King Ramakanta (1769-70) and his Coins-Jai Prakash Singh

Volume II

Art, Architecture & Iconography
44. Problems of Rock Art-M.K. Dhavalikar
45. Buddha and Maitreya in Early India Art-K.D. Bajpai
46. Iconography of Buddhism : The Bengal Chapter-D.C. Bhattacharyya
47. Technique of Indian Sculptures : Some Preliminary Observations-Gautam Sengupta
48. Temporal Seat of Authority in Rural and Urban Settlements expresses through Religious Edifices-R. Nagaswamy
49. Fish Motif in Protohistoric India-S.P. Shukla
50. A Priceless Gem of the Sunga Terracotta Art-K.S. Shukla
51. Sasthi in Literature & Art- N.P. Joshi
52. Mahisamardini Plaque in the Gurukul Museum at Jhajjar, Haryana-R.C. Agrawal
53. Tiles from Harvan-B.V. Shetti
54. Terracottas from Thanesar-Mohinder Singh
55. Discovery of Gandhara Sculptures-Suwarcha Paul
56. Krsna Lila in Sculptural Reliefs and Temples-Ratan Parimoo
57. Krsna as Found in Early Literature and Art of South India-M.L. Nigam
58. Some Lost Monuments of Orissa-D.R. Das
59. The Asana Pattikas or Kaksasanas in the Kakatiya Temples-Y. Gopala Reddy
60. Feudal Content of Pala Art : A Framework for Enquiry-V.K. Thakur
61. Pala Jaina Images from Rajgir-Maruti Nandan Pd. Tiwari & Kamal Giri
62. Proud Possessions of Mandsaur Museum-Kirti K. Shash & Kailash Chandra Pande
63. Sculptural Wealth of Ahmadpur-B.L. Nagarch
64. Some Rare Icons in the Wild Region of Bastar-V.D. Jha
65. Vaikuntha Images from Punjab-Devendra Handa
66. Memorial Tablets from Rajasthan- Vijai Shankar Srivastava
67. Panch-Mahal of Fatehpur Sikri : Architectural Derivation & Raison D`Etre-R.Nath
68. Citrakathi Tradition of Painting-Shridhar Andhare
69. Statues of Queen Victoria-Arundhati Banerji
70. Vicissitudes of Visakhapatnam and its Ivory Craft-D.N. Varma
71. Smrti Sangrahalaya, Sardarshahr (Rajasthan) - An Introduction-Avinash Handa

Religion, Philosophy, Language & Literature
72. Buddhist Parivrajaka : Genesis and Early History-Pranabananda Jash
73. Process of Death in Early Buddhism-Mahesh Tiwari
74. Significance of Some Buddhist Myths and Symbols-Kewal Krishan Mittal
75. Buddhism and its Interaction with other Cultures in Afghanistan : Problems and Perspectives-V.C. Srivastava
76. Jain : A Retrospect of the Term-Gopi Lal Amar
77. Identification of Sastitantra-Satya Vrat
78. Iconology and Semantics : Laksana, Laksana and Rasa-V.S. Pathak
79. Heir Apparent and "Putrika-putra" (in the Arthasastra)-Sadashiv A. Dange
80. The Principles of Jatyutkarsa in the Social Evolution-S.S. Dange
81. The cloud above Devagiri-Verses 44 of Meghadutam-S.V. Sohono
82. (Hindi Article) - Ramesh Chandra Sharma

This is agreat analysis of the philosophy and history of the Sikh polity. It is really an amazing work by a renowned scholar who has been reckoned as one of the GREATEST 100 SIKHS OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY by the surveys done in December 2000.
The book covers a period of about 400 years of the Sikh polity. The author deserves thanks for such a marvellous work. This is a must for every student and scholar of Sikhism. The author has also written an encyclopaedia of Sikhism under the title THE SIKH REFERENCE BOOK. In fact it is more than an encyclopaedia as it also includes the complete chronology of Sikhism from 1469 to 1996. Shiromani Akali Dal (A History) is another great work by the author. His latest books; (1) Sikh Philosophy and other essays and (2) Guru De Sher too are great works of scholarly research on the Sikh history. The author has given unknown information on each subject touched by him.

This is an excellent, if early, biography of Akbar the Great (who really needs to be analyzed once again in light of the events which have occurred since Indian independence). Smith does not idealize Akbar, being completely honest about his vanity and personal ambition, and yet we get a portrait of a man who was remarkable for his tolerance of all religions and compassion. Although born a Muslim, and hardly a pacifist, he can in a sense can be considered the precursor of Gandhi in his desire to mold India into a united nation that would transcend any one religion. One can only imagine what India would have been like if his successor Aurangzeb had not reversed his policies, calling forth a Hindu national identity, weakening India and thus calling in the British.

It's always embarrassing to be wrong in public, but if one is going to learn, it is better to confront one's mistakes than to ignore them as if they had never happened. When I wrote my short review of Vincent Smith's AKBAR THE GREAT MOGUL, I was overly impressed by its Oxford imprimatur, the author's scholarly credentials, and the book's venerable age (1917). It is not surprising that I gained the impression that Akbar had embraced Parsiism, for after asserting that the Emperor had rejected Islam, Smith provides what seems like unmistakable evidence for this conversion: Akbar worshipped fire and the sun. What seems less easy to understand or explain is how I could have overlooked the passages in Smith's book which imply that Akbar, having rejected Islam, began to persecute Muslims. If this is correct, it would greatly tarnish his well-known reputation for toleration.

Trying to decide if I should buy S.M. Burke's AKBAR, THE GREATEST MOGUL from Amazon, I examined a library copy of the more recently-penned biography alongside of Smith's work. And to my relief (for I have had a special affection for Akbar since I read about him years ago in Bamber Gascoigne's THE GREAT MOGHULS), I found in it an excellent refutation of Smith's charges of religious intolerance. To quote Burke: "To have punished anyone solely on the score of religion was alien to Akbar's entire outlook. The seniormost ladies of his own household-- his mother, his aunt Golbadan and his wife Salima-- were all pious Muslims and he always paid them the greatest respect. He arranged for Golbadan and Salima to gain merit by performing the hajj [pilgimmage to Mecca]. If being a fervent Muslim was a crime in Akbar's eyes, as Badauni would have us believe, how did Badauni, the self-confessed zealot, manage to survive at court, so close to Akbar, till the very end of the Emperor's life?" (p. 128). To which I might add, concerning the charge that he banned Arabic letters, that if he had done so he could not have expected to see his own name anywhere, as it is in fact part of the Muslim takbir, the first sentence pronounced daily in the muezzin's call to prayer, "Allahu akbar" or "God is great", and nothing could have been more Arabic.

This still leaves open the question of what religion Akbar ultimately embraced. His "Din-I-Ilahi" was a customized religion wich undoubtedly contained a large measure of self-glorification, for no one denies that Akbar was vain. But there was good reason for him to consider himself to still be a Muslim even after he established it. It so happens that there was a brand of Islam which was popular in Akbar's time and very different from the bigoted Islam of the ulema whose bickering so irritated Akbar. This was Sufisim, a type of mysticism which sought union with the divine through ecstatic attainment of union with God, usually brought about through contemplation and an austere way of life. Sufis were tolerant, believing that there is a core of truth in every religion: like the Persian poet Rumi and the Christan Gnostics, they would have agreed that God is to be found not in a synagogue, church or mosque but in one's own heart. Burke provides much evidence of Akbar's attraction to Sufism. Indeed, Akbar himself experienced mysterious moments of "seizure", in which he became detached from everything that was going on around him and unable to participate in it, as though he were possessed. In one instance, he was engaged in a form of hunting which he greatly enjoyed, in which beaters drove animals into a confined space where they could be slaughtered-- depictions of this form of hunting, as well as Akbar hunting on horseback with cheetahs, still exist in Moghul miniatures. On this particular occasion, after his "seizure", Akbar seemed to lose all his thirst for blood and ordered that the animals be released unharmed. He seemed elated and himself interpreted such "seizures", which recurred on other occasions, as moments of complete union with God such as the Sufis sought.

Smith attempted to explain these episodes by hypothesizing that Akbar was an epileptic, but why then would he have interpreted the seizures in a positive light? As Burke says, it is more plausible to conclude that they were exactly what Akbar thought they were, and it does not matter whether or not WE believe that he had attained union with God on these occasions, only that Akbar, being of a mystical bent, genuinely believed that he had. Interestingly, Akbar may have been afflicted with another disorder, although the possibility has never been raised by any author to my knowledge, including Burke. This is dyslexia. It is well known that Akbar was illiterate. Smith attributes this to youthful idleness, and Burke to "an unsettled childhood and natural aversion to being taught." (p. 31). But given the undeniable intellectual capacity and love of learning that he displayed as an adult, it seems more likely that he had a reading disorder which could have been easily overcome in today's world but which was not even recognized in his own era or Smith's, for that matter.

Smith's assertion that Akbar was "free from a love of cruelty for its own sake," is supported by the edict, cited by both Smith and Burke, which he promulgated against involuntary suttee. As Burke says, "On one occasion Akbar heard that a Rajput princess did not wish to commit suttee after the death of her husband but her son and other relatives were resolved to force her to burn herself. He immediately mounted his horse, speeded to the spot, and prevented the tragedy." (p. 141) It is also supported by the shock Akbar felt at the hideous torture-death inflicted on a man by his son Salim (the future Jahangir) when he was in his cups (p. 208). But there is one question on which debate still rages as it does about his religion. Smith says that "Akbar's whole policy was directed principally toward the acquisition of power and riches, and that "improvement of the condition of the people was quite a secondary consideration." Burke takes strong exception, using numerous examples to demonstrate the falsity of this assertion. For one thing, if Akbar's system of administration was not beneficial to his subjects, why did the British themselves model theirs upon it? (p. 215) Secondly, Akbar expressed his concern for the poor and downtrodden in innumerable ways. He made himself accessible to everyone, even the lowliest of his subjects. He distributed alms in vast amounts and encouraged his nobles to do the same. He built free hospitals and schools, serais (the equivalent of today's hostel) for poor travelers, and constructed wells and dams to help the peasants (pp. 145-221). When one of his ministers pleaded that, because of old age and failing health, he wished to retire and spend his days in "remembering God", Akbar refused to let him go and said that "No worship of God is equal to the soothing of the oppressed."

It seems that Burke is right when he says of Smith and some of his contemporaries who felt the same about Akbar, "they were reluctant to permit any period of Indian history to outshine the British inerregnum in benevolence and enlightenment." (p. 216) Another Englishman felt differently. In an address to the Pakistani parliament, the last viceroy of India, Lord Mountbatten, said, "When the East India Company received its charter nearly four centuries ago, your great Emperor Akbar was on the throne, whose reign was marked by perhaps as great a degree of political and religious tolerance, as has been known before or since. It was an example by which, I honestly believe, generations of our public men and administrators have been influenced." (p. 221)