Arikamedu

I first heard of Arikamedu from the Cambridge historian C R Whittaker some years ago, on (what would be) his last trip to India. Being a relative ignoramus on the peregrinations of the Romans, it was news to me that they had come as far as India, and that too by sea, to a place not far from where I call home...

Arikamedu (or Podouke as the Romans called it) is 15 km from Pondicherry. Archaeological remains discovered there include terracotta lamps, semi precious stones, fragment of amphorae, showing that there was considerable contact between Roman traders and the Tamil people... Although Arikamedu was first mentioned by a French astronomer, Guillaume le Gentil in 1768, it was not until Mortimer Wheeler DG of the Archaeological Survey of India excavated the site in 1945. In hi sreport, he says "Numerous sherds of both of a red-glazed pottery known to have been made in Italy in the first centuries of BC- AD, and of the two handled jars or Amphorae characteristic of the Mediterranean wine-trade of the period, together with Roman lamps and glass ware combine to indicate that Arikamedu was one of the regular “Yavanas” or Western trading stations of which both Greco-Roman and ancient Tamil writers speak. As the first of these stations actually identified by excavations in India, Arikamedu will hold henceforth a distinguished position in the history of the economic relations with the outside world.

A Roman market on the Coromandel coast implies a knowledge of the south western monsoon..."

The (late) archaeologist Vimala Begley and her team did more work on the site in the late '80s and '90s, summarizing their important findings in two massive volumes, The Ancient Port of Arikamedu: New Excavations and Researches 1989-1992, published by the Ecole Francaise d'Extreme Orient. Volume I was brought out in 1996: "Arikamedu, located on the Coromandel coast of India, is the most important site for the study of Indian sea trade with the Mediterranean region during Imperial Roman times. The site has been excavated previously in the 1940s and 1950s, but because of many unresolved problems, during three seasons from 1989 to 1992, new excavations were carried out as a collaborative project of the University of Pennsylvania Museum and Madras University. .... The methods of excavation and recording of data used by the excavation team differ widely from those commonly used in India. Since the site has been extremely disturbed from ancient times to the present, the authors have provided a detailed examination and catalogue of the artifacts recovered from both their own and earlier excavations. Along with the forthcoming second volume, the final excavation report will shed new light on a site that turned out to be far more complicated than any of the earlier excavators had realized.

Extensively illustrated, with site plans, photographs of pottery and numerous drawings, the present volume will be an indispensable reference work for scholars interested in the entire array of sites along the Coromandel coast which provide evidence of an extensive network of trade that existed before, during and after the period of Indo-Roman trade." Volume II appeared in 2004.

This post, however, is occasioned by the book review last week of Arikamedu – Its Place in the Ancient Rome-India Contacts by S Suresh, an archaelologist based in Chennai. With many photographs and a reasonable bibliography, this slim volume has been brought out by the Development Cooperation office of the Embassy of Italy in India. More research on this Roman Trail in South India could, the author and reviewer hope, result in the development of an archaeological park in Arikamedu.

The book, as far as I can tell, is not easy to get, except by contacting either the author, or (as I did) the Italian Embassy. And they were kind enough to send me a copy, but I'm sure more people would be interested in the story and the history if the book were easier to get. I hope that they plan wider dissemination of this, and any other publications that they support...

Yehi hai Wrong Choice! Baby...

frontpage, based in Kolkata, is an independent publishing house. The niche they occupy is in "pioneering a distinctive approach to excel in publishing critical debates". One can't help having the feeling that they are in the right place at the right time.

THE REAL THING: Coke’s Bumpy Ride through India by Nantoo Banerjee is their new publication, that "combines an insider’s knowledge with a reporter’s detachment and is a ‘must read’ for plumbing the depths of contemporary corporate ethics.

Coca-Cola is an American icon and the world’s largest brand. Considered a torchbearer of American capitalism across the world, it has as many critics and admirers around the globe. Written by an eminent financial and business journalist, this book chronicles the soft drink giant’s troubled business expansion in the sub-continent. Entering India in 1991 after a 14-year exile, Coke’s subsequent policies and practices have been mired in controversy. The pesticides in colas, the closure of the company’s Kerala plant following its exposé as a groundwater guzzler, and the company’s constant fight with environmentalists, social activists and the government
provided the impetus for writing this book. "

The author, Nantoo Banerjee is a journalist (The Indian Express, The Times of India, Business Standard, The Financial Express and The Telegraph) who spent some time on the other side of the fence, working at Coca-Cola India, first as a consultant and later as Director, Public Affairs & Communications.

In our General Books section, paperback, 266 pages, Rs 395. ISBN: 9788190358057

Changing the climate

Soil not Oil: Climate Change, Peak Oil, and Food Insecurity is Vandana Shiva's new book to be published by Women Unlimited.

The book is plainspeak from an awoved environmental activist. "Climate change will dramatically alter how we live and is already affecting the lives of the world’s most vulnerable people. In Soil Not Oil, Vandana Shiva connects the food crisis, peak oil, and climate change to show that a world beyond a dependence on fossil fuel and globalization is both possible and necessary. Bold and visionary, Shiva reveals how three crises are inherently linked and that any attempt to solve one without addressing the others will get us nowhere.

Condemning industrial agriculture and industrial biofuels as recipes for ecological and economic disaster, Shiva’s champion is the small, independent farm. What we need most in a time of changing climates and millions hungry, she argues, are sustainable, biologically diverse farms that are more resistant to disease, drought, and flood. Calling for a return to local economies and small-scale food production, Shiva outlines our remaining options; a market-centred shortterm escape for the privileged, which will deepen the crisis for the poor and marginalized, or a people-centred fossil-fuel-free future, which will offer a decent living for all."

Vandana Shiva, who has been called ‘The South’s best-known environmentalist’ is a world-renowned environmental thinker and activist. A leader in the International Forum on Globalization (IFG) along with Ralph Nader and Jeremy Rifkin and the Slow Food movement. Shiva won the Alternative Nobel Prize (the Right Livelihood Award) in 1993. She is the author of many books, including Manifestos on the Future of Food & Seed (2007), and Globalization’s New Wars: Seed, Water & Life Forms (Women Unlimited, 2005).

In our Environment Section, in Paperback, 164pages. Rs. 225. ISBN: 9788188965553

Jai Kisan

Two books reviewed in today's Hindu on the state of Indian Agriculture prompted this post. Academic Foundation, a specialist publisher based in Delhi has focused on books relating to the Indian Economy, Industry, Banking & Finance. They have made quite a name for themselves for the quality of their publications, and the attention they pay to detail.

D Narasimha Reddy reviews GLIMPSES OF INDIAN AGRICULTURE — Macro and Micro Aspects, edited by R S Deshpande, Vijay Paul Sharma, R P S Malik, Brajesh Jha and S A Ansari. This is a two volume study of the Agro Economic Research Centres (AERCs) launched by the Union Ministry of Agriculture with the objective of conducting research into specific agro-economic problems which are of special interest to the governments at the Centre and in the States. The first volume is on macro issues,
and the second on state-specific micro issues. Reddy says ... the main objective of these two volumes is to draw the attention of policy-makers and researchers to the existence of such rich and valuable material scattered across the AERCs in the country. The sponsoring organisations and the editors have done a yeoman service to all those engaged in research in agricultural economics by conceiving this book project.

K L Krishna and Uma Kapila (Eds.) "bring in their respective expertise on industry and agriculture to compile this unique reference text, with contributions from noted economists, in order to provide critical insights into the two vital sectors of the Indian economy", Readings in Indian Agriculture and Industry. The list of contributors to this volume is impressive, and includes among others, Isher Judge Ahluwalia, T C A Anant, G S Bhalla, Uma Kapila, K L Krishna, Mihir Rakshit, C H Hanumantha Rao, Suresh D. Tendulkar and V S Vyas.

Both to be found in our Economics section.

First right

The Pratham Education Initiative started about fifteen years ago in the slums of Mumbai, and by now "has reached over a million children with its pre-school, in-school and out-of-school programmes that aim to ensure that every child is in school and learning well. Pratham’s activities have spread to 13 states in India with cooperation and assistance from local government, leading corporate houses and local citizens. All of Pratham’s programme models are simple to implement, replicable, scalable and geographically comprehensive so as to ensure universal primary education for every child in India in the years to come."

By all accounts, this is a remarkable effort that will do more to change the face of urban India than slumdog movies... And one of their arms is Pratham Books, a not-for-profit trust that "seeks to publish high-quality books for children at a affordable cost in multiple Indian languages. Pratham Books is trying to create a shift in the paradigm for publishing children’s books in India. The low cost model proves that children’s literature can be attractive and affordable and therefore more accessible."

Read India is the imprint under which they have been publishing books for children, targeting Pre-School, Early Readers and Advanced Readers separately through a series of attractively produced inexpensive books. Priced at Rs 25, most of their titles are available in several languages. Take Kolhapur to Beijing: Freestyle! for instance. "The sheer joy of training your body to achieve what your mind dreams of...sports provides that joy. Read this story about a boy from Kolhapur who became the fastest 15-year old swimmer in the world!" is 28 pages long, and is available not just in English and Hindi, but also in Kannada, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. Or the set of four titles, Once Upon An India that features children from different eras in Indian history as their main protagonists, also available in the same languages. Some titles, like Ganga ki Lehren (गंगा की लहरें ) are available only in Hindi and Marathi, but with 20 stunning photographs, this is one book that can be appreciated by all...

The list of books they publish is too long to put onto the Scholars site, but as always, we are happy to help you get any of their books if you simply write in to us, at scholarswithoutborders@gmail.com.

Persistently Resistant

Persistence Resistance 2009 is this year's instalment of the documentary film festival founded by The Magic Lantern Foundation. This edition of the festival also brings a special focus on South Asia, its films, filmmakers and the resonance and dissonance of the cultures of the sub-continent.

Magic Lantern and India International Center, where the event is hosted, are most generous. This event is open to all and is free of charge. The dates are April 17-19, and for those who may just be visiting Delhi, India International Centre is at 40 Max Mueller Marg, Lodhi Estate, New Delhi 110003. Do tell your friends in Delhi who might wish to attend or write about the festival... this is an activity that needs to have a wider reach, and more people need to sample the fare on offer- especially when it is so good (and free!).

There is a bunch of well-known filmmakers: Paromita Vohra, Sameera Jain, Pankaj Butalia, Kavita Joshi, Amudhan.... and a bunch of well known documentaries that cannot be seen easily. The films are political for the most part, so drop by, have a look and change your mind... The program is available online, here. And if you want to buy any of the films you see (or wish you could see again) write to us, or explore Magic Lantern films on the Scholars website.

Green and Khaki

An unusual collection of Gandhi quotes, along with some great photographs made me aware of Natraj Publishers based in Dehra Dun, Uttaranchal. They have specialised in two areas, which, given the fact that they are based in Dehra Dun, home of the Forest Research Institute and the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, the Indian Military Academy, seem quite natural... Ecology and the Environment, and Military Studies. Green and Khaki.

The publishers also run The Green Bookshop in Dehra Dun, a hub for conservationists, ecologists and wildlife enthusiasts and specialists from across the world. The aim of the bookstore has been to spread environmental awareness and promote literature on ecological conservation. To this end, Natraj have a number of titles in the area, some reprints of classics, others newly commissioned and very timely books. Take The Asian Elephant by J C Daniel, Director of the Bombay Natural History Society, for instance. (Its in our Natural History section.) Or A Pictorial guide to The Plants of the Indian Subcontinent by Ramesh Aima. Or Cultivating Diversity by Vandana Shiva...

Their Military Studies lists are fascinating... A reprint of Philip Mason's A Matter of Honour: An Account of the Indian Army, its Officers and Men, or Viscount Slim's Defeat into Victory. Or the Official History of Operations in Jammu & Kashmir: 1947-48.

And the book that got me thinking of this post, My Life, My Words: Remembering Mahatma, Edited by Sangeeta Kochhar, and with a foreword by the Dalai Lama. "Sixty years after his death, the fundamental principles of Gandhi's philosophy of unity, brotherhood and non-violence stand threatened around the globe. This book is an effort to provide vignettes into the life of this great man, and into his profound thinking.There is an urgent need to revive his vision for a troubled world, in the twenty-first century. It is a book to make each of us unlearn, rethink and relearn. "You must be the change you wish to see in the world", Gandhi famously said. Let us be that change."

In our Gandhi Studies section, Rs 295. ISBN: 9788181581099. Look for other Natraj titles on our site. Inexpensive and surprising!

Imagining the past, building the future.

This post is about two old titles from Tulika, both by architects.

Romi Khosla, sometime principal of Delhi-based GRUP India is the author of The Loneliness of a Long Distant Future: Dilemmas of Contemporary Architecture, a book "about the passing of global events and conflicts in some geographical spaces seen through the window of contemporary architecture. It is about the obliteration of existing contexts [in Kosovo, Jerusalem, Samarkand, Tibet] and the formation of new architectural identities in the 21 first century."

Khosla, economist-turned-architect, UN adviser and writer said in an interview 'Communities are being destroyed by military ambitions. Whoever said our futures will be decided by the armed services? It is the prerogative of architects to invent futures. We are better trained for it than the military.'

Gautam Bhatia's A Moment in Architecture is an intimate autobiography of architecture.

"For the uninitiated, looking at Indian architecture is like viewing a forest. Obscured by the profusion, at first the eye sees only dense vegetation, in a state of confusion, conflict and chaos. Only when the focus narrows to a single tree, a shrub, a blade of grass does the forest's variety become discernible and an order emerge. Behind the unseemly mess of an Indian city, behind Mughal portals and inside stepwells, in old mountain houses and dark temple interiors, lies another picture of Indian architecture.

The author of this book, an architect himself, takes the reader on a personal journey through its labyrinths, providing insights into structures that dot our lives. He casts his gaze - sometimes lovingly, sometimes despairingly - on buildings as diverse as the stone citadel of Jaisalmer, Rashtrapati Bhavan, and the facades of Greater Kailash, on a stepwelll at Adalaj, a Corbusier Church, a Frank Lloyd Wright House.

In doing so, he lays bare ideas and facts about these buildings, while reflecting on the sensory and meditative qualities of experiencing each of them."

Listed in the Art and Architecture section, these can be found by just searching for Tulika titles on our site. Rs 700 for Romi Khosla's book, ISBN: 9788185229553 and Rs 400 for Gautam Bhatia's, ISBN: 9788185229591

Pathbreaking...

The latest issue of Marg, the premier magazine of the arts published from Mumbai is on the history of the Indian littoral, Ports, Towns and Cities, edited by Lakshmi Subramaniam. "From the time of the Indus civilization to Mughal ports and the metropolitan cities of the British Raj, there is an underlying thread of continuity that is related to the functions and potential of urban formations. This survey of select port cities attempts to redress the land bias that has characterised the writing of India's history. This study charts maritime history from an altogether new vantage point, showing how crucial port cities were in India's social and cultural development."

The volume, like most issues of Marg, has an impressive set of contributions, from JNU historian Himanshu Prabha Ray, on Coastal Settlements and Communities: Defining the Maritime Landscape in Early South Asia, Farhat Hasan on The Mughal Port Cities of Surat and Hugli, S J Stephen on Mapping the Landscape of Pondicherry in the 17th Century, Jonathan Barlow on Calcutta, The English City on the Ganges: Temperament and Architecture in the 18th Century, Mariam Dossal on Maritime Mumbai, and Lakshmi Subramaniam on Madras: Queen of the Coromandel.

Marg started in 1946 with seven advertisements and two rooms provided by JRD Tata, the late chairman of the Tata Group, and has been in continuous publication since. The magazine's founder editor, the late Mulk Raj Anand, intended it to be a loose encyclopaedia of the arts of India and related civilisations... and to bring about an awareness of the arts that is relevant and applicable to India's future.

In the more than 60 years that it has been in operation, Marg has attempted to achieve a broad cultural and historical view of the arts through its magazines and books. Currently edited by art historian Pratapaditya Pal, the magazine has also been a forum for much pioneering research work.

Many Marg titles are available via Scholars. Including Ports, Towns, Cities, in our History Section. Rs 2500, 168 pages. ISBN: 9788185026893

Grand Unification

Among the holy grails of theoretical physics is a Theory of Everything- something that will unify all forces and give a satisfactory explanation for why things are the way they are. In string theory, one of the most important discoveries in the past decade has been that of duality... which in that context means that two theories of apparently different types are really identical in the major respects.

Indian philosophy has, for centuries now, grappled with concepts that are, on the face of it, similar. Dvaita, dualism, and its philosophical converse, Advaita- the oneness of all beings.

Samata Books in Chennai was started by the Gandhian, V Sadanand, in 1977. They have a very eclectic set of titles that includes The Complete Works of Adi Shankara, for one, and the Valmiki Ramayana that was first translated by Gaspare Gorresio, Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Turin. for another. This edition- unavailable for several decades and little known in India, was published in ten volumes with Italian translation, Introduction and Notes in the 1850's. Samata's edition is in 8 volumes. Other gems abound on the site... Adi Sankara's commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, for instance, in a translation by Alladi Mahadeva Sastri. Or Paul Carus' Gospel of The Buddha that was first published in 1894.

The Advaita Ashrama in Kolkata is the publishing wing of the Ramakrishna Math. "In Advaita philosophy, the whole universe is all one in the Self which is called Brahman. That Self when it appears behind the universe is called God. The same Self when it appears behind this little universe, the body, is the soul. This very soul, therefore, is the Self in man. There is only one Purusha, the Brahman of the Vedanta; God and man, analysed, are one in It. The universe is you yourself, the unbroken you; you are throughout the universe. " They publish a large number of books, too numerous to mention here, and among those are serious discourses on the connections of religion and more quantitative approaches such as cognition. And philosophy, and history.

A particular treasure is The Culture Heritage of India, in a 6-volume series. The first volume describes the geographical, ethnic, and linguistic background of Indian culture, and the prehistoric Indus valley civilization which flourished over 4,000 years ago. Romain Rolland called it "a monumental compendium of the treasures of Indian thought of centuries", while the New York Times termed it "a work that is encyclopedic in scope. . . The vigor with which India is asserting her individuality and cultural importance points towards a renaissance that will enrich not only India, but the rest of the world as well." And "we get from the encyclopedic book the impression of a people who at their best display the most exquisite refinement of feeling, the subtlest grace, the nicest delicacy . . . And it may happen that it will be to India, as well as to Palestine, that we shall have to look for the spirit which will unite men in building a Kingdom of God upon earth" from the Times Literary Supplement.

Other volumes deal with Itihasas, Puranas, Dharma and other Sastra, Philosophies, Science and Technology, The Arts, and so on... Listed in our Culture section.

A son's father

Aatish Taseer interviews well. And comes across, even on television, as being both articulate and intelligent, so it is no surprise that his writing has already garnered high praise from the likes of V S Naipaul, and from Khushwant Singh.

At its core, his debut novel Stranger to History tells a sad story. "As a child, all Aatish Taseer ever had of his father was his photograph in a browning silver frame. Raised by his Sikh mother in Delhi, his Pakistani father remained a distant figure, almost a figment of his imagination, until Aatish crossed the border when he was twenty-one to finally meet him. In the years that followed, the relationship between father and son revived, then fell apart. For Aatish, their tension had not just to do with the tensions of a son rediscovering his absent father - they were intensified by the fact that Aatish was Indian, his father Pakistani and Muslim. It had complicated his parents' relationship; now it complicated his. The relationship forced Aatish to ask larger questions: Why did being Muslim mean that your allegiances went out to other Muslims before the citizens of your own country? Why did his father, despite claiming to be irreligious, describe himself as a 'cultural Muslim'? Why did Muslims see modernity as a threat? What made Islam a trump identity?"

And in answering these questions, the book grows. Aatish travels through Islamic Lands: Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and then Pakistan. Ending his search in Lahore at his father's home... There are many partition stories in this book. Barriers that cannot be crossed, and barriers where none need exist. Touching and insightful, one can only hope that this book is the first of many from a hugely talented writer.

In our Indian Writing in English section, hardcover, 338 pages, Rs 495. ISBN: 9781847670717

Resurrection

Sarai Reader 02: The Cities of Everyday Life is now back in print. Edited by Ravi Vasudevan, Ravi Sundaram, Jeebesh Bagchi, Monica Narula, Geert Lovink and Shuddhabrata Sengupta "this Reader brings together a range of critical thinking on urban life and the contemporary, marked by spreading media cultures, new social conflict and globalisation. Scholars, media practitioners, critics and activists use a flow of images, memories and hidden realities to create a fascinating array of original interventions in thinking about cities today. In the context of India, where a large part of this reader has been edited, this is significant, given the frugality of writing on city life in this part of the world."

Sarai publications are in our Media Section and elsewhere on the site as well. This avatar of Sarai Reader 02 is in paperback only, 376 pages, Rs 350. ISBN: 8190142909 or 9788190142908.

Oh My God!

In some ways it is not simple to understand how fundamentalists (of any religion) manage to gain such large followings... They are hardly an attractive lot, with ideologies that are patently absurd for the most part. And yet, by combining nationalistic ideals with religion- be it the Taliban or the BJP- they do manage to attract a large section of the population.

What is going on in Kandhamal is more than just shocking. And analysing this and related issues like the barbaric killing of the Staines family is Three Essays' latest book, VIOLENT GODS: Hindu Nationalism in India's Present; Narratives from Orissa by Angana P. Chatterji.

"This book is an erudite and elegiac exploration of Hindu nationalism in India today. It offers a revealing account of Hindu militant mobilizations as an authoritarian movement manifest throughout culture, polity, and economy, religion and law, class and caste, on gender, body, land, and memory. Tracing the continuities between Hindutva and Hindu cultural dominance, this book maps the architectures of civic and despotic governmentalities contouring Hindu nationalism in public, domestic, and everyday life. In chronicling concerted action against Christians and Muslims, Adivasis and Dalits, through spectacles, events, public executions, the riots in Kandhamal of December 2007 and August-September 2008, the planned, methodical politics of terror unfolds in its multiple registers. "

Chatterji is associate professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. Her work spans issues of cultural survival, nationalisms, gendered violence, and postcolonial critique. In this book she "asks critical questions of nation making, cultural nationalism, and subaltern disenfranchisement. As a Foucauldian history of the present, this text asserts the role of ethical knowledge production as counter-memory."

Understanding evil is never quite easy. In our Religion section. And Sociology. Hardcover, xvi+ 470 pages, Rs 800, ISBN: 9788188789450. Also in paperback, Rs. 500.

Maha Booker

Mahasweta Devi, in the shortlist for the Man Booker International Prize, featured in one of our recent posts (on Moving Worlds). A prolific writer, particularly for and of marginal voices, this nomination recognises her considerable contributions, and if she were to be awarded the prize, it would only add to an already impressive set of awards- the Jnanpith, the Magasaysay, among others- that have already gained lustre by having been given to her earlier.

Several of her books are available in translation and feature on our website. Breast Stories, The Queen of Jhansi, Bait, Five Plays, Mother of 1084, The Book of the Hunter, Outcast, After Kurukshetra , Choti Munda and his arrow, Dust on the Road, Our Non-Veg Cow and Other stories, all published by Seagull, Kolkata. And The Why-Why Girl from Tulika, Chennai.