Feat of Clay

The Clay Sanskrit Library - all volumes that are available - is now on Scholars. Created by John Clay "to introduce Classical Sanskrit literature to a wide international readership", the CSL has made available an incredible range of titles of classical Indian literature that represents several millennia of cultural development.

Readers in India and elswehere have only limited access to Sanskrit literature. Where Clay scores over other efforts is that the translated texts have both the Sanskrit in Roman transliteration along with the translations in English.

"Forty-four leading scholars from ten countries are cooperating to produce fresh new translations that combine readability and accuracy. The first fifteen titles appeared in 2005, co-published by NYU Press and the JJC Foundation, followed by nine volumes in 2006 and eight volumes in 2007. They will be followed by three volumes in April 2008 and six more in August 2008. The selection will focus on drama, poetry and novels, together with the famous epics."

Check out the available CSL titles on our site, in the Indian Literature in Translation section. Each title is Rs 1060.

A full list of them all will appear on this post in a few days. Meanwhile, here are a few (the earliest set of translations) to give you an idea of what is on offer...

• The Birth of Kumára by Kālidāsa, translated by David Smith. This greatest of court epics describes events leading up to but not including the birth of Kumára (also known as Skanda or Karttikéya), the war god destined to defeat the demon Táraka.
• The Emperor of the Sorcerers (volume one) by Budhasvāmin, translated by Sir James Mallinson. Budha·svamin tells the astonishing epic tale of the youthful exploits of prince Nara·váhana·datta. It is indeed a great story, as its Sanskrit title declares. Epic in scope and scale, it has everything that a great story should: adventure, romance, suspense, intrigue, tragedy and more.
• The Emperor of the Sorcerers (volume two) by Budhasvāmin, translated by Sir James Mallinson. Volume two of Budha·svamin’s “The Emperor of the Sorcerers” begins with the merchant Sanu·dasa telling the story, an epic in itself, of how he acquired Gandhárva·datta, his daughter whose hand Nara·váhana·datta, the hero of the book, has just won in a lute contest.
• The Epitome of Queen Lilávati (volume one) by Jinaratna, translated by R.C.C. Fynes. The Epitome of Queen Lilávati tells the stories of the lives of a group of souls as they pass through a series of embodiments on their way to final liberation from the continual cycle of death and rebirth.
• Heavenly Exploits (Buddhist Biographies from the Dívyavadána), translated by Joel Tatelman. The Dívyavadána, or “Heavenly Exploits,” is a collection of thirty-eight Buddhist biographical stories. The genre of narratives of an individual’s religiously significant deeds is as old as Buddhism, and its manifestations are as widely spread across Buddhist Asia, in classical and vernacular languages, down to the present day.
• Love Lyrics by Amaru, Bhartṛhari & Bilhaṇa, translated by Greg Bailey & Richard Gombrich. Ámaru’s sophisticated seventh-century CE “Hundred Poems” are as much about the social aspects of courting, betrayal, feminine indignance and masculine self-pity as about sensuality. Bhartri·hari’s anthology “Love, Politics, Disenchantment” is the oldest of the three, from the fourth century.
• Maha·bhárata III: The Forest (volume four of four), translated by William J. Johnson. Book Three of the great Indian epic the “Maha·bhárata,” ‘The Forest’ covers the twelve years of the Pándavas’ exile in the forest, a penalty imposed upon them by the Káuravas because they have lost a rigged dicing match.
• Maha·bhárata IX: Shalya (volume one of two), translated by Justin Meiland. “The Book of Shalya” is the ninth book of the Maha·bhárata. It portrays, in grand epic style, the last day of the great battle between the Káuravas and the Pándavas, recounting in gory detail the final destruction of King Duryódhana and his army.
• Much Ado About Religion by Bhaṭṭa Jayanta, translated by Csaba Dezső. The play satirizes various religions in Kashmir and their place in the politics of King Shánkara·varman (883-902). Jayánta’s strategy is to take a characteristic figure of the target religion and show that he is a rogue, using reasoning or some fundamental ideas connected with the doctrines of that very religion.
• Rákshasa’s Ring by Viśākhadatta, translated by Michael Coulson, Foreword by Romila Thapar. The final, benedictory stanza of this political drama may refer to Emperor Chandra Gupta II (r. c.376-415 CE).
• Ramáyana I: Boyhood by Vālmīki, translated by Robert P. Goldman, Foreword by Amartya Sen. Rama, the crown prince of the city of Ayódhya, is a model son and warrior. He is sent by his father the king to rescue a sage from persecution by demons, but must first kill a fearsome ogress.
• Ramáyana II: Ayódhya, by Vālmīki, translated by Sheldon I. Pollock. In the great city of Ayódhya, the king decides to abdicate in favor of his beloved son Rama; but just as the celebrations reach their climax, a court intrigue involving one of the king’s junior wives and a maidservant results in Rama being forced into a fourteen-year banishment.
• Ramáyana IV: Kishkíndha by Vālmīki, translated by Rosalind Lefeber. After losing first his kingship and then his wife, Rama goes to the monkey capital of Kishkíndha to seek help in finding Sita, and meets Hánuman, the greatest of the monkey heroes.
• Three Satires by Nīlakaṇṭha, Kṣemendra, and Bhallaṭa, translated by Somadeva Vasudeva, Foreword by Mani Shankar Aiyar. Written over a period of nearly a thousand years, these works show three very different approaches to satire.Nila·kantha gets straight to the point: swindlers prey on stupidity.
• What Ten Young Men Did by Daṇḍin, translated by Isabelle Onians. The crown prince becomes separated from his nine friends. Each of the ten young men has several adventures on his quest to be reunited with the others, culminating in their conquest of all competitor kingdoms.

The Reprint Scene

In some academic disciplines there is no dearth of good Indian books. And in some, the abysmal lack is telling... When we started Scholars, we had no idea that the number of good original texts in subjects as important as chemistry or biology, or for that matter physics or mathematics, would be so few...

Why does this make a difference? After all, there is good scholarship elsewhere and one can argue that its not really necessary to have every book written in India, that some subjects are universal, and the laws of nature do not change from place to place etc. Well, it does matter, because every textbook writer brings her or his own educational pattern into the mode of presentation, the emphasis, the examples, and so on, so many otherwise excellent books have an element of the unfamiliar, making many students rush to the comforting arms of a kunji come exam time...

Many publishers have reprints especially intended for distribution in the subcontinent, or in South Asia, and this post is about the more unusual of them. Major publishers like Pearson, Prentice Hall, John Wiley, McGraw Hill and Springer have a major presence here in the textbook market with low priced editions of books published in the west, sometimes under their own imprint and sometimes (especially like Springer) in collaboration with local publishers.

While it defies a certain obvious logic, as beneficiaries, we can hardly complain... Books that would be prohibitively expensive become available, even if the market is small. Take Overseas Press who have, since 2003, brought out reprints of "some best-selling academic titles in the field of physics, Applied Chemistry, Mathematics and Economics" from prominent publishers in the UK, Europe, USA and Singapore, "to provide the student community of the Indian sub-continent, comprising of India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bhutan, Mayanmar and Bangladesh with economy editions of the original texts." This story multiplies itself many times in the Indian publishing industry- Viva, Ane, Anamaya, Capital, Prism, Madhyam,.... the list is long.

One of the Overseas reprints that caught my eye is the slender but widely (and correctly) feted Principles of Cosmology and Gravitation by (Sir) Michael V Berry. A necessity in every library, this book is a wonderful example of clear writing, especially on difficult matters. Anyhow, for what its worth, here are some of their titles in physics that might be of interest (all titles are the paperback versions).

• Astrophysical Techniques, 3/e C R Kitchin, Rs 495, ISBN 81-88689-07-6
  
• Basic Ideas and Concept in Nuclear Physics: An Introductory Approach, 2/e K Heyde, Rs. 445, ISBN 81-88689-08-4
• Fractal and Chaos: An Illustrated Course, Paul Addison, Rs. 395, ISBN 81-88689-10-6
  
• The Bases of Chemical Thermodynamics, Michael Graetzel & Pierre Infelta, Rs. 545 ISBN 81-88689-38-6


• Nanotechnology Basic Science and Emerging Technologies, M Wilson, K Kannangara, G Smith, M Simmons, B Raguse, Rs 395, ISBN 81-88689-20-3
  
• Introduction to Gauge Field Theory and String Theory, D Bailin & A Love, Rs 345, ISBN 81-88689-05-X
  
• Introduction to Chaos: Physics and Mathematics of Chaotic Phenomena, H Nagashima & Y Baba, Rs 245, ISBN 81-88689-12-2
• Molecular Symmetry and Spectroscopy, 2/e P R Bunker, Rs 695, ISBN 81-88689-15-
• Nonlinear Dynamics: A Two-Way Trip from Physics to Math H G Solari, M A Natiello, G B Mindlin, Rs 395, ISBN 81-88689-16-5
• Principles of Cosmology and Gravitation, M V Berry, Rs 295, ISBN 81-88689-17-3
• Statistical Mechanics: Fundamentals and Model Solutions, Teunis C Dorlas, Rs 245, ISBN 81-88689-06-8
• Superfluidity and Superconductivity, D R Tilley & J Tilley, Rs 495, ISBN 81-88689-19-X
• Introductory Thermodynamics, Pierre Infelta, Rs 295, ISBN 81-88689-37-6
• General Relativity, Robert M Wald, Rs 645, ISBN 81-88689-27-0

Do write in to us for any of the titles you might like to have.

Mens sana in corpore sano

This famous Latin quotation- which most of us learned at school- is usually translated as "a healthy mind in a healthy body". Meaning, at least as I recall, that it was not possible to have a healthy mind in the absence of physical well-being.

This concern is the focus of Rama Baru's latest book, School Health Services in India, published by Sage, India.

"While the contribution of education to health has gained recognition, the reciprocal relationship between health and education and its outcomes have not been adequately studied. This work broadens the perspective on school health in India by locating it within the epidemiological and socio-economic context of children in the school-going age group. The collection explores the social context and programmes for school health in the country, including the Mid-Day Meal Scheme (MDM), School Health Services and School Health Education.

Studies have shown that socio-economic factors play a very important role in determining enrolment, retention, completion and learning in schools. School Health Services in India: The Social and Economic Contexts analyzes the relationship between levels of malnutrition and minor and major illnesses on the one hand, and socio-economic status, on the other. It also examines in detail the different components of the school health programme in India and how they function in different contexts. In addition, it showcases the experiences of three NGOs who have adopted innovative approaches to transact health education in government schools in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka."

In our Public Health and Education sections. Hardcover, 228 pages, Rs 550.00. ISBN 978-81-7829-873-3.

Measuring progress... Journal Proceedings.

One of the main activities of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore, in the publishing of academic journals. Many of these were started by the Academy's founder, C V Raman... and are among the best scientific journals published in the country.

In recent years, Pramana, the Academy journal for physics has emerged as a major publisher of conference proceedings. This is an important role that the journal performs, allowing scientists to vicariously experience the several conferences that are hosted in the country.

Since Academy publications are subsidised, this is also an easy way that colleges and universities in India (and elsewhere) have of bring the latest research of a field to their libraries at an affordable rate. A case in point being the Proceedings of the conference Perspectives in Nonlinear Dynamics PNLD 2007 (which contains articles by leaders in the area of nonlinear science) that was published a few months ago, or the Proceedings of STATPHYS 22, or any number of other meetings. And some of the special issues commemorate other occasions- as for example the recent volume that celebrated 50 years of the Raychaudhuri equations in astrophysics.

All Proceedings and special issues can be ordered directly via Scholars. We are more than glad to help.

Diversification strategies

The lack of a certain kind of diversity in visible India is a fact that has been deplored often enough, with remarkably little being done about it. Well meaning moves for affirmative action all too often end up as good efforts with little outcome. The less well meaning moves are so imbued in political computations that they almost destroy the institutions they set out to bolster...

Navayana, the publishers for social change, bring the AVARNA Fellowships with an aim to increasing diversity in publishing. Having made their mark with a series of stunning books on the issue of caste- Namdeo Dhasal's poetry, Kancha Ilaiah's Turning the Pot, Dilip Menon's Blindness of Insight, and most recently Anand Teltumbde's Khairlanji - they now seek to facilitate the training of dalits/adivasis through the PG Certificate Course in Editing and Publishing conducted by the School of Cultural Texts and Records (SCTR), Jadavpur University, Kolkata. Known as Edit-Pub, this four-month self-financed course, in its fourth year now, has had a successful rate of placement (75 percent) in the publishing industry.

Navayana’s AVARNA (अवर्ण ) program will be a pioneering initiative towards ensuring editorial diversity in the publishing industry in India. Dalit and adivasi applicants, below 35 years of age, must email their CVs along with a 300-word note on their interest in books and why they wish to pursue a career in publishing to avarna.navayana@gmail.com before 28 November 2008. Ten short-listed applicants have to appear for a screening test on 22 December 2008 in Kolkata. Candidates from outside Kolkata will be provided return train fare to attend the test.

The Navayana Fellowship comes with a stipend of Rs 5000 per month plus the course fees. And the goodwill of Navayana, who will also help in the placement of successful candidates in mainstream/alternative publishing houses. The course is for four months from January 2009 and further details can be got from www.navayana.org.

Nobelesse oblige

Rupa Books is to be congratulated for bringing out Onitsha, an important work of this year's Nobel laureate, J. M. G. Le Clézio who is one of France’s best-known contemporary writers. Onitsha has been translated by Alison Anderson, and it was first published by the University of Nebraska Press in 1997.

"Onitsha tells the story of Fintan, a youth who travels to Africa in 1948 with his Italian mother to join the English father he has never met. Fintan is initially enchanted by the exotic world he discovers in Onitsha, a bustling city prominently situated on the eastern bank of the Niger River. But gradually he comes to recognize the intolerance and brutality of the colonial system. His youthful point of view provides the novel with a notably direct, horrified perspective on racism and colonialism.

In the words of translator Alison Anderson, Onitsha is remarkable for its almost mythological evocation of local history and beliefs. It is full of atmosphere—sights, sounds, smells —and at times the author’s sentences seem to flow with the dreamy languor of the river itself. But J. M. G. Le Clézio never lets us forget the harsh realities of life nor the subsequent tragedy of war. A startling account—and indictment—of colonialism, Onitsha is also a work of clear, forthright prose that ably portrays both colonial Nigeria and a young boy’s growing outrage."

The book- and the author- have been widely praised. Because of the prohibitive prices, the US editions have not been widely available in India. "The most surprising work of Le Clézio’s long career, and one of his best."—Kirkus. “Readers will not forget this novel.”—Library Journal. “Once again J. M. G. Le Clezio, a novelist fascinated by the non-Western and an anthropologist respecting the Other, takes readers to a site that destroys Westerners; that is, the site either encourages their most egregious exploitative colonialism or puts them in the thrall of difference. The latter happens when the new non-Western environment casts a spell severing the Westerners from their own kind but keeping a barrier between them and the natives. . . . An expertly managed piece of professional fiction-writing, but a little hard to take seriously.”—Marilyn Gaddis Rose, World Literature Today.

A part of the Rupa France series. 212 pages, Paperback. Rs 295. Write to us...

Here is a strange and bitter crop

The book Khairlanji: A Strange and Bitter Crop from Navayana, on which we did a post last month had a formal launch yesterday. Speaking at the occasion, Nivedita Menon drew attention to the subtitle of the book which is taken from the haunting song that Billie Holliday sang after a series of lynchings in the American South,

Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.

Apart from Anand Teltumbde, the author, the panel that discussed the book and the issues surrounding it were a distinguished set: Harsh Mander, Sukhadeo Thorat, Nivedita Menon and Arundhati Roy.

Its too much to summarize what was said here, but the comments were passionate, incisive, and very revealing of the prevalence and persistence of caste in our society and of its roots. And yet, as India shines, at least in some points of view, much of our literate and consuming society seems blissfully unaware of how deep these roots are. Not only is there widespread lack of awareness of the problem, there is also a regrettable inability to see the problem, codified by aeons of practice.

Read the book. Its moving, chilling, and a stark reminder of the inequalities that persist. giving our society its gangrenous core, to quote Arundhati Roy.

In our Dalit Studies Section. Rs 190. ISBN 9788189059156

Bookery

Good that we started our Indian Writing in English section a while ago, and even better that we put Arvind Adiga's book on it... The White Tiger, described as a compelling first novel about the new India that is growing roots all around us, in unexpected and often ominous ways.

It seems that compelling is quite the adjective to describe the book- the judges of the Man Booker prize certainly felt so, and Adiga joins a distinguished galaxy of writers from the subcontinent who have made a mark with their writing...

A regrettable feature of these prizes is the attendant hype. One can only hope that this novel is just the first from a welcome addition to the fraternity.

The White Tiger. 328 pages, Rs 395. ISBN: 9788172237455.

Life is elsewhere...

Yoda Press has three new titles in the making- Wish You Were Here: Memories of a Gay Life, Muslim Portraits: Everyday Lives in India, and Ecriture Indienne D’Expression Francaise.

All very different books- different from each other, and distinctly Yoda.

Sunil Gupta's Memories of a Gay Life stands at the forefront of that creative ‘migrant’ generation which first exploded on the visual art scene in the 1980s. Wish you were here is a memoir in photos by this important gay photographer of Indian origin for whom home is where he finds himself at a given moment. In this thought-provoking work, the personal becomes political without guile or inhibition as the photographer explores contentious terrain such as sexuality, gender and racism. His courageous engagement with the issues which have shaped his experience and practice has given decisive shape to the contemporary debate about difference.

In the Biography and Gender Sections, Rs 995, ISBN: 978-81-906668-0-0.


Muslim portraits is a "captivating new volume, [wherein] 13 anthropologists present a set of vivid portraits of Muslims in India today. Each of the contributors has had a long-term research interest in Muslim societies in India, but in these essays they profile one single individual whom they have met in the course of their research and whose story they found compelling. The subjects of this volume live in different parts of India, like Bhuj, the mountains of Kashmir, Hyderabad, Androth Island, and Lucknow, they speak different languages, eat different foods, are engaged in various kinds of work, but are all Muslim. Zooming in on individuals who have normally stood cheek-by-jowl with hundreds of others in a large canvas, these portraits focus attention on them in a separate frame, revealing their stories, predicaments, and realities, the aspirations they nurture and the impediments they overcome to attempt to achieve these. In doing so, they highlight the sheer diversity which lies hidden under the seemingly homogeneous category of the Indian Muslim, and shatter stereotypes. Intimately told and stripped of jargon, yet nuanced and incisive, this is a valuable addition to the corpus of books on the Muslim community in contemporary India." Commenting on the book, Richard Eaton of the University of Arizona says ‘These vivid and compelling portraits reveal the lives of eleven ordinary Indians utterly different in class, occupation, language, and regional identity yet sharing the same hopes, fears, and life-challenges common to us all. The volume challenges the crude, monolithic stereotypes of Islam so often heard today. It is a timely and much-needed contribution.’

Edited by Mukulika Banerjee, Reader in Social Anthropology at UCL, the title is in paperback, 164pages, Rs 250. ISBN 978-81-906186-2-5. In our Anthropology and Culture sections.


And finally, Ecriture Indienne, an anthology of Indian Writing in french "brings together texts from Pondicherry, Karaikal and Mahe, the erstwhile French territories in India. It also includes writings from Goa, a former Portuguese colony, where French was widely used in literary circles. Some of the writers whose texts appear in the anthology are Toru Dutt, Sri Aurobindo, M. Mukundan, Paulino Dias, Léon Saint Jean and so on."

The volume is put together by Vijaya Rao at the Centre for French & Francophone Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Paperback, 200 pages.

small and SIGNIFICANT

Today is a good day to celebrate the small publisher in India: one who makes a difference. Having just traversed Roppongi and Shibuya in Tokyo, dropping in on bookstores where size is not an issue ... oh what joy!... I thought it appropriate to talk about three publishers in India who do not have websites, who do not have a wide distribution network, and who are important enough, and should be taken seriously.

Manoo Pathipagam in Thanjavur. Less than 10 titles, but in the context, all important. They brought out the following books by Prof. N Rajan of Pondicherry University: Kalvettiyal (Epigraphy) in 2006, Excavations at Mayiladumparai - A preliminary report (2004) being somewhat earlier. Archaeology: Principles and Methods (2002), South Indian Memorial Stones (2000) which got us in touch with them, and Archaeological Gazetteer of Tamil Nadu (1997).

Banarsidass Bhanot in Jabalpur. We came across them very recently, but some of their titles are of high quality, and are among the only books in the area. At least from India... Another niche situation, but one that is not used well- getting in touch with them has not been the easiest thing we have done.

Bishen Singh, Mahendra Pal Singh in Dehra Dun are among the most prominent of our publishers in the area of plants and botany (in general). There is no major family of plants in India that they have not commissioned a book on, or published a book on. What would we do to preserve our biodiversity if it were not for people like them! But why do they not have a website?

The invisibility of Indian publshing is what SwB aims to address. So please let us know about the small publisher in your part of India. We'll be happy to give them space, and a place in the sun. No strings attached..

The men who kill Gandhi

Many contemporary intellectuals are seized with the issue of communalism that seems to be growing in the country, and they draw on their disciplines to find some answers... or at least, explanations. The JNU historians Aditya Mukherjee, Mridula Mukherjee and Sucheta Mahajan have a new book out with Sage, RSS, School Texts and the Murder of Mahatma Gandhi which "undertakes the novel experiment of juxtaposing three apparently quite different issues, the nature of the RSS school textbooks, the murder of the Mahatma and the basic ideology of Savarkar and Golwalkar. While deeply delving into all three aspects, it brings out the deep connection between them.

The book, which brings out the basic ideological underpinnings of the Hindu Communal Project, is divided into three parts. Part I discusses how this ideology is propagated among young impressionable minds through school textbooks. Part II studies the role of the Sangh combine in the murder of Mahatma Gandhi and Part III analyses the basic elements of the Hindu communal ideology, as propounded by some of its founders like Savarkar and Golwalkar.

The book brings home to us in a dramatic manner the great threat communalism poses to our society."

Although the book is slender, the case for strengthening secular forces within the country is made most effectively. In paperback, 120 pages. Rs 195, ISBN: 9788178298542

Not so little

A welcome addition to our Periodicals list is The Little Magazine which bills itself as "South Asia's only professionally produced independent print magazine devoted to essays, fiction, poetry, art and criticism. It is also the only publication to offer full-length novellas and film and drama scripts, complete with camera and stage directions. The magazine was conceived as a dialogue — a platform which would carry important work in the world languages along with the best of contemporary writing in the South Asian languages. It is not India-specific and addresses a community which is more easily defined in terms of mindspace rather than in purely geographical terms. Our readers have only one common denominator: they are sensitive and are looking for something more than what mainstream publishing can provide them."

Founded in 2000 by Antara Dev Sen and Pratik Kanjilal (Editor and Publisher, respectively) TLM started with a lot of goodwill - and good writing, from Amartya Sen, Martha Nussbaum, Noam Chomsky, to name a few. Since then, a steady stream of excellent thematic issues that have appeared quite regularly has ensured that they can be counted among the more interesting literary periodicals in the country, although the landscape is admittedly somewhat bleak. Biblio and The Book Review are other literary periodicals of quality, but they concentrate mainly on reviews.

TLM has many dimensions to it. For one thing, they publish a lot of original material. And from leading writers in English as well as the other languages of India. Amrita Pritam. Kunwar Narain. Dom Moraes. Atlaf Tyrewala. Mrinal Pande. And so on... For another, they have a web version- and a print version of the magazine. Further, they are very interactive, with what they call an Open Space, where readers can critique material that authors (or would be authors) put up for criticism. They also have a Gallery where (they promise) they will bring "affordable art", and a Bookshop where they offer a number of titles, mostly in drama, film, literature, poetry, and similar genres. (The overlap with what we offer in similar categories at Scholars is considerable... Good taste tells!)

You can subscribe to TLM on their own website, but you can do it just as easily at Scholars... Look for them under Periodicals.

A non-brahmin millenium

Samya, Kolkata, bring out a revised edition of Towards a Non-Brahmin Millennium: From Iyothee Thass to Periyar this month. The book is by V Geetha who writes in Tamil and in English on contemporary Tamil history, culture and society and gender, and S V Rajadurai a well-known Tamil writer and translator who has long been involved with the radical Left and the civil liberties movement.

The book traces the history of "non-brahmin assertion to brahmin hegemony in the old Madras Presidency and argues that this complex and layered past has to be critically re-claimed for our times. An analytical study of the gestation of the movement, of its forebears like Iyothee Thass and his contemporaries, the book also provides an incisive discussion on the contributions of Periyar, E. V. Ramasami, the path-breaking founder of the Self-Respect movement. The book offers a textured history of a crucial decade – the 1920s to the 1930s – which witnessed important attempts and achievements at building a historic bloc that knit together the interests of non-brahmins and dalits. It goes on to analyse the Justice Party, the first non-brahmin political initiative in government, revealing its successes and significant limitations, and where the interests of the non-brahmins and that of the adi dravidas diverged.

The Self-Respect movement is discussed in detail, and translations from the writings of Periyar give readers in English a glimpse of his humour and scathing insights. The book demonstrates how the movement ‘conceptualized the relationship between caste, gender and sexuality’ and includes the wonderfully carnivalesque denunciations of caste, brahmin priesthood and the nation by youthful Self-Respecters. It ends with a critical account of the anti-Hindi agitations that inaugurated a new era of Dravidian nationalism.

The Afterword discusses various reactions to the book as well as current political developments that have influenced the way some critics have viewed the Non-Brahmin movement. Revisiting the debates of the 1930s, the authors point out can be ‘exciting as well as sobering’.

Under the Samya titles in our Dalit Studies section. hardcover, 546pages. Rs 650, ISBN 9788185604374

A New Life

Founded by Mahatma Gandhi, Navajivan Trust is a publishing house of great repute having brought out more than 800 titles in English, Gujarati, Hindi and other languages.

The Navajivan Institution was Gandhiji's sole heir- in his will written in 1940, he says " ANY WILLS that I may have made before this day stand cancelled and this be deemed as my last Will.

I do not believe that I have any property. Nevertheless, anything which by social convention or in law is considered mine: anything movable or immovable; books, articles etc. that I have written and may write hereafter, whether printed or not printed and all their copyright; I endow as my heirs the Navajivan Institution, whom I hereby declare as my heirs..."

After independence the main work of the Trust has been to spread the thoughts of Gandhiji through publication of books, the writings of Gandhiji, memoirs of his co-workers, diaries and publications depicting various facets of Gandhiji’s personality have been brought out. These publications are mainly in Gujarati, Hindi and English and are of great value to scholars across the world.

We list some titles in our Gandhi Studies section, Gandhiji's autobiography and Pyarelal's Biography, but here are some more that are available from the Navajivan Trust. Write in to us-

• ALL MEN ARE BROTHERS, M. K. Gandhi Translated from Gujarati by Valji Govindji Desai
• ASHRAM OBSERVANCE IN ACTION, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
• GANDHI FACES THE STORM, Gene Sharp
• GANDHI WIELDS THE WEPON OF MORAL POWER, Gene Sharp with a Foreword by Albert Einstein
• HIND SWARAJ OR INDIAN HOME RULE, M. K. Gandhi
• INDIA OF MY DREAMS, M. K. Gandhi
• INDUSTRIAL AND AGRARIAN LIFE AND RELATIONS, M. K. Gandhi
• MY RELIGION, M. K. Gandhi
• SATYAGRAHA IN SOUTH AFRICA, M. K. Gandhi
• SELECTIONS FROM GANDHI, Nirmal Kumar Bose
• SELF-RESTRAINT v. SELF-INDULGENCE, M. K. Gandhi
• THE ESSENCE OF HINDUISM, M. K. Gandhi
• THE GOSPEL OF SELFLESS ACTION OR THE GITA ACCORDING TO GANDHI, Mahadev Desai
• THE MIND OF MAHATMA GANDHI, R. K. Prabhu & U. R. Rao,
  with forword by Acharya Vinoba Bhave & Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
• THE WAY TO COMMUNAL HARMONY, M. K. Gandhi, Foreword by Prof. Humayun Kabir, Introduction by Dr. Rajendra Prasad
• TOWARDS NEW EDUCATION, M. K. Gandhi
• VILLAGE SWARAJ, M. K. Gandhi
• GANDHI [A biography for children and beginners], Ravindra Varma
  
  
  
  

We would be more than happy to get them for you. Good books to remember today... or any day.

Notes from the underground

Raymond Suttner, Professor and Head of the Walter and Albertina Sisulu Knowledge and Heritage Unit at the University of South Africa has written a history of the African National Congress, The ANC Underground in South Africa. An ANC underground operative, Ray was jailed for his activities during the apartheid era (he wrote about this in an earlier work, Inside Apartheid's Prison (2001)).

"It is commonly held that the ANC -after its banning in 1960 and the imprisonment of its leaders - largely disappeared off the face of South Africa until public support for it revived in the wake of the Soweto uprising of 1976. This book takes issue with that view. Drawing on substantial oral testimony, Raymond Suttner develops a convincing case that internally based activist, sometimes working independently of the ANC in exile and sometimes in combination, were able to reconstitute networks within South Africa after the organisation's banning. He discusses the broad features of their secret underground work, the impact it had on their personal lives, and the opportunities that were presented for both bravery and abuse. One of the distinctive features of his approach is its treatment of such illegal activity through a gendered lens. Suttner concludes by exploring the dominant position which the ANC had established by the 1970s (partly through underground activity), enabling it to become the prime political beneficiary of the Soweto uprising and ultimately creating the conditions for a negotiated settlement in South Africa."

Tom Lodge, author of Mandela, A critical life says " [This work] will certainly supply the foundation for important revisions in our understanding of the history of anti-apartheid resistance politics and the ANC’s role within them. In particular, it enriches the existing historiography that addresses the 1963–1976 period. It draws upon a rich base of original data as well as assembling evidence from a range of published autobiographical testimony.”

The cover shows Chris Hani, the assassinated People's army leader, dancing the toyi-toyi. Published by Jacana Press ("we publish what we like"!!), this book will shortly be available in India (and will then be on our site, but till then, please just write in to us to ask). Paperback, 256 pages, ISBN 9781770095977.