The Gandhi Perplex

Ranabir Samaddar, Director of the Calcutta Research Group and editor-in-chief of the South Asia Peace Studies Series has worked extensively on the contemporary issues of justice and human rights, particularly in South Asia. Following his two-volume work, The Materiality of Politics (Anthem, 2007) that was widely acclaimed, his new study, Gandhi's Dilemma in War and Independence has been published recently by page, Kolkata.

"In the socio-political milieu of the forties in India, the most contentious decade of the last century, ravaged with war, the Quit India movement, famine, partition and the civil war, the author draws our attention to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the father of the Indian Independence Movement, who, as he puts it, “symbolised the conflicts and paradoxes of that time of transition”.

As one critically examines Gandhi’s views during the period of India’s passage to political independence on issues such as war, decolonisation, nationalist challenge, state sovereignty, problems of governance and so on, a pertinent question surfaces: was Gandhi as confident in his political agenda and methods as history has asserted to the present day?

Gandhi, again a satyagrahi, an ardent propagator of nonviolent resistance to injustice throughout his life, appears in the eyes of the Englishmen, as an extremist and saboteur of the Allied democratic cause in the World War II.

Using his scholarly acumen, the author unveils a new dimension to Gandhi’s towering personality with the suggestion that time was closing down on him. It was a situation of classic aporia, when exit from the problem that Gandhi struggled to escape from became impossible in its own terms."

From Frontpage, Kolkata, in our Politics and Gandhi Studies sections. Paperback, 140 pages, Rs 195. ISBN: 9788190884112

Alternative Histories

Achuthan M Kandyil served as an engineer with All India Radio for 18 years until 1972 when he joined the faculty at Grambling State University, Louisiana.

He is not a historian. He has not used primary sources. However, he joins the illustrious list of Samya, Kolkata authors this month, with the new book Writing Indian History: A View from Below.

"Challenging orthodox interpretations, and more radical ones, Achuthan raises many key questions on what is history and how it is written. This comprehensive history of India, from ancient to modern times, presents an alternative, even iconoclastic, view. Arguing that the history written by professional historians has been strongly influenced by their concept of Hinduism, caste and its implications, or by an over-dependence on Marxism, and their upper caste status, Achuthan M. Kandyil urges that it is time that the counter view of the lower castes be considered.

[Kandyil suggests that a] major reason for the perpetuation of the caste system was identified by the Mandal Commission Report, 1987: the unquestioning adherence to irrational, anachronistic ideas and beliefs that conditioned ‘the consciousness of the lower castes in accepting their inferior status in the ritual hierarchy as a part of the natural order of things’. He has set out to lay bare historical truths in an accessible way for those who have acquiesced in this discrimination.

As the caste system had severely limited access to education, most Indians had no way of questioning what was presented as knowledge or as religious beliefs and customs. Achuthan deconstructs the intellectual labour of iconic scholars and personalities like S. Radhakrishnan, M. N. Srinivas, Swami Vivekananda and Mahatma Gandhi, among others, to show how they supported the caste system, albeit condemning its excesses.

Arguing against the prevalent distortions, the author talks of how the destruction of non-brahminic literatures has been the key to wrongful interpretations of ancient India, and to the way Dravidian culture was undervalued until the discovery of the Indus Valley civilization in the early twentieth century. Similarly, Buddhism had flourished for a millennium, BC 250-AD 800, bringing forth astonishing cultural achievements that travelled beyond India to the rest of the world. Yet this has not received its due; instead the glories of a golden age that mirrored Buddhism’s decline at the hands of a violent resurgent Brahminism were emphasized. The latter with its rigid caste system and orthodoxy maintained by the Dharmashastras, reinterpreted extremely narrowly, led to India’s long-term decline, its absence of unity, its vulnerability to invasions and its loss of creativity. The first glimmers of modernity based on equality before the law with attendant social reforms appeared only under British rule."

In our Dalit Studies and History sections. Hardcover, 465 pages, Rs 700. ISBN: 9788185604725

Temps perdu

Ashish Rajadhyaksha, Senior Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Culture and Society (CSCS), Bangalore, and a critic and writer on cinema, art and culture has a new book out Indian Cinema in the Time of Celluloid: From Bollywood to the Emergency.

"Nowhere has the cinema made more foundational a public intervention than in India, and yet the Indian cinema is consistently presented as something of an exception to world film history. What if, this book asks, film history was instead written from the Indian experience?

Indian Cinema in the Time of Celluloid reconstructs an era of film that saw an unprecedented public visibility attached to the moving image and to its social usage. The cinema was not invented by celluloid, nor will it die with celluloid’s growing obsolescence. But ‘celluloid’ names a distinct era in cinema’s career that coincides with a particular construct of the twentieth-century state. This is not merely a coincidence: the very raison d’etre of celluloid was derived from the use to which the modern state put it, as the authorized technology through which the state spoke and as narrative practices endorsing its authority as producer of the rational subject.

Arguing that there was a ‘spectatorial pact” around the attribution of state authority to the celluloid apparatus, Indian Cinema in the Time of Celluloid explores the circumstances under which social practices surrounding the celluloid experience also included political negotiations over its authority. While modern states everywhere have put the cinema to varied and by now familiar uses, in India we had the politicization of key tenets associated with the apparatus itself. Indian cinema throws significant new light on the uses to which canonical concepts such as realism could be put, and on the frontiers at which cinematic narrative could operate.

The book throws new light on a phenomenon that is arguably basic to all cinema, but which India’s cinematic evidence throws into sharpest relief: the narrative simulation of a symbolically sanctified rationality at the behest of a state. This evidence is explored through three key moments of serious crisis for the twentieth-century Indian state, in all of which the cinema appears to have played a central role. Bollywood saw Indian cinema herald a globalized culture industry considerably larger than its own financial worth, and a major presence in India’s brief claim to financial superpower status. The debate on Fire centrally located spectatorial negotiations around the constitutional right to freedom of speech at a key moment in modern Indian history when Article 19 was under attack from pro-Hindutva forces. And the Emergency (1975-77) saw a New Indian Cinema politically united against totalitarian rule but nevertheless rent asunder by disputes over realism, throwing up new questions around the formation of an epochal moment in independent India."

Earlier books by Ashish include The Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema (from OUP, edited with Paul Willemen) and Ritwik Ghatak: A Return to the Epic.

From Tulika, New Delhi. In our Film Studies section, in hardcover, xii + 444 pages, Rs 995. ISBN: 9788189487522.

Lucy in the sky...

In the end, it turned out that the choice of Varanasi as a place to go see the total solar eclipse yesterday was just plain lucky...

It was my first, and in all probability my only- but one could not have asked for more... The nailbiting start- as a fortuitous wind blew away the clouds that threatened to provide an impenetrable cover- leading to a totality that was clearly visible, not as dark as I had imagined though one could see a star twinkle, and then the diamond.

Nothing I had read prepared me for the absolute wonder of the moment... not all the dry facts of natural philosophy can take away the sense of awe that a phenomenon on this scale inspires... There are photographs and images aplenty on the net, but nothing is like it really is... probably not even the LSD inspired hallucinations sung about by the Beatles. The corona, visible in the picture above, feels much larger... and more intense. And then the moment of the diamond... To be in Varanasi, with thousands viewing the eclipse while standing waist deep in the Ganga, while thousands more chant on the shore... the combined effect of faith, history and science is magical!

Taregna, the village in Bihar where Aryabhatta invented the concept of shunya or 0 (arguably one of the most important contributions of Indian mathematics) was less lucky. Overcast for the most part, the most palpable part of the eclipse was totality, when the sky went dark. Unlucky, considering that a large number of people had gone to view it there, and also ironic, since Aryabhatta was one of the first to make accurate predictions of when eclipses would occur.

The Indian National Science Academy has, for many years now, been making an important effort in studies of the History of Indian Science. In 1976 they published the Aryabhatiya of Aryabhata, text with English translation by K S Shukla and K V Sarma, and the text with Hindi translation by R N Rai. Further the commentaries of Bhaskara and Someswara, and those of Suryadeva Yajvan were also published, edited respectively by K V Sarma and K S Shukla. It is entirely possible that these four books are still in print, though laying ones hands on copies may be more than just difficult.

On the other hand, the Aryabhatiya can be downloaded free from the Million Book project. Here. This is the Walter Clark tranlstion (print copies are still available) and is based on the 1874 text by Kern published at Leiden. "The Aryabhatiya claims to be the work of Aryabhata, and gives the date of the birth of the author as 476 A.D. If these claims can be substantiated and if the whole work is genuine, the text is the earliest preserved Indian mathematics and astronomical text bearing the name of an individual author, the earliest Indian text to deal specifically with mathematics and the earliest preserved astronomical text from the third or scientific period of Indian astronomy."

Frustrating but useful

With the solar eclipse just a little over 2 days away, my personal excitement is building up, what with the monsoons threatening to break, and the thought that all I might get to see is a thick set of clouds... Like Hardy, maybe I should take along an umbrella and a set of manuscripts to correct... the reference here being to the number theorist, G H Hardy known among other things, for the Hardy Weinberg law, for his "discovery" of Ramanujan, and for his exquisitely sad autobiography, A Mathematician's Apology. Hardy is a central character, maybe the central character of David Leavitt's The Indian Clerk, essentially a romantic historical novel of Ramanujan, Hardy, and the times. A gripping read, it is more imagined than Kanigel's The man who knew Infinity, but then, it is a novel, not a biography.

Hardy famously said "I have never done anything 'useful'. No discovery of mine has made, or is likely to make, directly or indirectly, for good or ill, the least difference to the amenity of the world." That was, like all hyperbole, not quite the case- the Hardy Weinberg law is enough to ensure his name in history. Nevertheless, it is telling that an individual as accomplished as this would want to remain so pure and unapplied.

To remain pure and untouched is an aspiration that seems to be shared by our very own Vigyan Prasar... unfortunately. As an independent body with close links to the Department of Science and Technology, Vigyan Prasar brings out a wealth of useful material- books, journals, CDs, video programmes, and so on. Getting these is, for the most part, an exercise in futility since they have just the one outlet in Noida. There used to be another in Delhi, but this is now defunct... Their online store is in preparation... And so on.

It would appear that Vigyan Prasar follows the motto No Pain, No Gain, and having paid with pain in full, we can personally vouch for the fact that there is indeed much to gain. Take for instance the Astronomy Kit (Rs 70 plus postage, incredibly useful and actually fun, as my 9 year old will testify), a number of CDs on diverse topics for Rs 50 each, books such as The Rustless Wonder by T R Anantharaman (on the Iron Pillar in Delhi) , the Haldane titles, Myths & Legends Related to Eclipses by the tragically short lived N C Rana, and others...

Anyhow, should you want any titles from Vigyan Prasar, write to us. By now we know the ropes, we don't lose hope, and we'll get them for you. Believe us, it is indeed worth it.

Speaking of History

The Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) is an autonomous organization which was established in 1972 with the objectives of bringing historians together, providing a forum for exchange of views between them, giving a national direction to an objective and scientific writing of history and to have rational presentation and interpretation of history and to promote, accelerate and coordinate research in history.

They bring out two scholarly journals, The Indian Historical Review (IHR) and Itihas. The most recent issues of IHR that has been released is Vol. XXXV, No. 1 (2008), which has articles that range from a study of Axis Satellite Armies of World War II: A Case Study of the Azad Hind Fauj 1942-45 to Nagaram during the Chola and Pandyan Period: Commerce and Towns in the Tamil Country A.D. 850-1350. Itihas has been recently revived and is now up to Volume 2 in the new series.

Their publication program, like that of many scholarly bodies in the country, is in collaboration with a range of publishers . Titles brought out in the last year include

• Inscriptions of the Vijayanagar Rulers – Volume II, edited by S H Ritti and B R Gopal
• Towards Freedom – 1939, Part I, edited by Mushirul Hasan.
  
• Towards Freedom – 1939, Part 2 edited by Mushirul Hasan
  
• Towards Freedom – 1945, edited by Bimal Prasad
  
• Towards Freedom – 1946, Part I, edited by Sumit Sarkar
  
• North East India: Interpreting the Sources of its History, edited by R Bezbaruah
• Rethinking 1857: Collection of Papers, edited by Sabyasachi Bhattacharya.

The Series editor for the very important series Towards Freedom is Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, who is also Chairman of the ICHR.

Very unusually for Chairmen of bodies such as this, Prof. Bhattacharya, and eminent labour historian and erstwhile colleague at JNU is trying to cover fresh ground through the ICHR website. In an open letter to visitors on the site he asks

• What can be done to facilitate more efficiently to communicate information to its users, to ensure transparency, and to create a community of shared intellectual interests?
  
• Does this website serve the purpose it ought to serve?

We will like to obtain from the users of this website their opinion. For instance:

• What are the bytes of information which will be useful to include in the website?
  
• Will it be useful to include a bibliographic guide to recent publications, monographs and articles in major research journals and in India and abroad, in the area of Indian history?
  
• Is it a good idea to carry in the website information of interest to professional historians and teachers, e.g. announcement of conferences, travel grants, various advisories of the University Grants Commission regarding syllabi, etc.?
  
• We already include in the website the ICHR Newsletter which is also sent in hard copy to numerous subscribers; should we also make available to our users the electronic version of the recent numbers of the Indian Historical Review on the internet?

Professor Bhattacharya, the answer to last three questions is a resounding YES! And I hope that the tribe that visits the site more frequently has more substantial answers to the other questions raised.

ICHR books are available on their own pages on Scholars.

Digging up the past

The Centre for Archaeological Studies and Training, Eastern India or CASTEI, in Kolkata has a formidable set of objectives. In addition to preparing a comprehensive computerized and annotated bibliography for the archaeology of eastern India, they carry out systematic multidisciplinary archaeological research work, conduct courses in areas not adequately covered in the university curriculum and support young research workers and senior scholars for specific work on eastern India.

Clearly, they fill a large gap in the academic curriculum.

The Centre was created in 1995, "to form a common meeting ground in Eastern India for interested researchers from different disciplines belonging to government organizations, academic institutes, local bodies and non-government organizations to discuss and debate our ideas in order to understand our past in a systematic manner."

One of their important activities has to do with research dissemination, and as a consequence they have a vigorous publication programme, bringing out books and monographs with some regularity, and with a wide appeal. A recent title that was reviewed in The Hindu is ARCHAEOLOGY IN INDIA: Individuals, Ideas and Institutions: Edited by Gautam Sengupta and Kaushik Gangopadhyay, the book is a record of the national seminar held in Kolkata in 2005. The 20 essays "provide glimpses of the methods and means adopted by the pioneers in archaeology to unravel India’s past, with the focus on the efforts made during the 19th and 20th centuries. "

From Munshiram Manoharlal, Rs. 1495, 416 pages, ISBN: 9788121512022

Other titles that are of wide interest include Archaeology Of Early Historic South Asia published last year, edited by Gautam Sengupta and Sharmi Chakraborty. "The book focuses on the present state of our understanding of archaeology of the early historic period. It explores archaeological methods-aims, objectives and practices. It addresses key issues that are traditionally associated with early historic archaeology. It tries to understand the changes that have taken place in the past decades due to the emergence of new issues, theories, and methods. Through thirty essays arranged in five sections the book charts through the various issues of early historic archaeology of the subcontinent."

From Pragati Publications, Rs 2195, 604 pages, ISBN: 9788173071218

The Archaeology of Eastern India: New Perspectives "attempts to deal with some of the questions and problems in the archaeology of the region and highlights empirical work currently in progress in diverse areas of Eastern India. Archaeology in Eastern India is fraught with numerous problems. There have been very few systematic field surveys or excavations alongwith a complete lack of multidisciplinary work in this area. We are yet to gain any comprehensive insight into the culture-history of the region. Moreover scholars have rarely critically questioned many concepts, ideas and assumptions which are basic to the understanding of the discipline itself. This book deals with a few of such theoretical problems, the notion of a "site", the debate on style and chronology as well as the importance of tools like ethnoarchaeology and the use of natural sciences in archaeological understanding alongwith a review of current research. This book is a beginning to a more critical and holistic archaeology."

Published by CASTEI, 631 pages, Rs 795. ISBN: 9788190149907

And finally, Eloquent Earth, their most imaginative title. A study of Early Terracottas in the State Archaeological Museum, West Bengal, this book is about "Terracotta plaques and figurines are known from the later part of the 19 century from a number of archaeological sites of West Bengal. Sites like Pandu Rajar Dhibi, Chandraketugarh, Tamluk, Harinarayanpur, or Panna evoke memories of a vibrant artistic tradition that goes back to the Second Millennium B.C. and remained active till the 6 Century A.D.

The State Archaeological Museum, West Bengal is one of the most important repositories of early Bengal Terracottas. Though largely unknown to the connoisseurs of Indian Art, the collection is accessible to the small community of museum professionals.

This volume brings together for the first time all the available information with sensitive black and white illustration of these early Bengal Terracottas."

Also published by CASTEI, 406 pages, Rs. 4000. ISBN: 9788190149983

All the above titles are listed in our Archaeology section.

Inclusive, Informal, and Intense

That is the impression I gathered of a meeting named YETI that is being organized by student volunteers from institutions in Bangalore and Mysore. This student-driven effort is a welcome new format and will hopefully be the first of more... and will show students in other disciplines as to how to evolve.

YETI expands to Young Ecologists Talk and Interact: A conference for ecology students and researchers in India, and if the group that was there last year is anything to go by, this year promises to be even better. Everyone involved in ecological research across India is invited!

As their website says: This event is meant to serve as a friendly and inspiring platform for ecologists, early in their career, to present and discuss their work, exchange ideas, and even strike up collaborations with contemporaries across the country. YETI is unique in being organized entirely by student volunteers from Bangalore and Mysore. We invite students from other parts of the country to volunteer to help organize YETI in the future.


The dates of this year's conference are 24-26 September, and as the title of this post suggests, the meeting should be very worthwhile. The format has the usual set of talks and so on, but what is cool is a half-day workshop on skills in ecology research, and the promise of time and space for informal interaction among ecology students and researchers.

Hopefully there should be little scope for the "I came, I spoke, I left" credo adopted by most senior researchers at national conferences (Veni! Orati! Absenti!... Well, thats MY Latin) - and with such an informal start, one can only wish the organisers the very best.

Spread the word, please, and pass this link on-

Chasing the Monsoon

This is a good book to have had this summer... maybe. As the monsoon remains elusive and I sit sweltering in the Delhi heat and humidity, a book who's title caught my eye is R R Kelkar's Monsoon Prediction, from B S Publications, Hyderabad.

Describing the book, Professor Kelkar says "The monsoon makes promises, but does not always keep them. The monsoon rainfall is grossly uneven and India has some of the wettest places on earth and also the driest. The rainfall is not uniform in time either, being interspersed with dry spells. Each year’s monsoon is a unique blend of cloud and sunshine and in the strictest sense, it has no past analogues. This is what makes monsoon prediction a scientifically challenging task."

He should know. Having retired as Director General of the Meterological Department, Kelkar has written a book on Satellite Meterology as well. "Monsoons are observed over many parts of the world but the Indian southwest monsoon is the strongest of all. It has linkages with the global atmospheric circulation, and it is an important component of the earth’s total climate system. The Indian southwest monsoon is India’s only source of water. It sustains the livelihood of millions of Indian farmers and influences food production. It is a dominant factor in shaping India’s economic growth rate. It has moulded Indian culture and tradition, inspired poets, and set the notes of Indian classical music. The Indian southwest monsoon is indeed “the monsoon”.

The book discusses the current state of art of monsoon prediction, the present and future user requirements, the inherent limitations of science, and why monsoon prediction is a worthwhile scientific effort that needs to be pursued. It covers the different techniques of monsoon prediction on various space and time scales, ranging from mesoscale rainfall to the behaviour of the monsoon across the 21st century.

..... Today, with our satellites, models, computers and field experiments, we surely know far more about the monsoon than ever before. The paradox, however, is that our knowledge or appreciation of the monsoon does not necessarily imply our ability to predict it."

Point taken.

In our Earth Sciences section, Hardcover, 234 pages. Rs 895. ISBN: 9788178001852

Theravada Tracts

A new title from Social Sciences Press, Rebuilding Buddhism by Sarah Levine and David Gellner "describes in evocative detail the experiences and achievements of Nepalis who have adopted Theravada Buddhism. This form of Buddhism was introduced into Nepal from Burma and Sri Lanka in the 1930’s and its adherents have struggled for recognition and acceptance ever since. With its focus on the austere figure of the monk and the biography of the historical Buddha, and more recently with its emphasis on individualizing meditation and on gender equality, Theravada Buddhism contrasts sharply with the highly ritualized Tantric Buddhism traditionally practiced in the Kathmandu Valley.

Based on extensive fieldwork, interviews, and historical reconstruction, the book provides a rich portrait of the different ways of being a Nepali Buddhist over the past seventy years. At the same time it explores the impact of the Theravada movement and what its gradual success has meant for Buddhism, for society, and for men and women in Nepal."

Le Vine is Associate Professor in Sanskrit and Indian Studies at Harvard University, while David Gellner, who has written extensively on both Nepal and on Buddhism is Professor of Social Anthropology and Fellow of All Souls, University of Oxford.

In hardcover, 396 pages, Rs 795. ISBN: 9788187358398

Theravada Buddhism is also in changing in many ways, especially as Burma, Sri Lanka and Thailand see many instances of the increased role that monks play in the everyday politics of these countries. An earlier study of this change, by Richard Gombrich and Gananath Obeyesekere is Buddhism Transformed: Religious Change In Sri Lanka from Motilal Banarsidass.

"In this study a social and cultural anthropologist and a specialist in the study of religion pool their talents to examine recent changes in popular religion in Sri Lanka. As the Sinhalas themselves perceive it, Buddhism proper has always shared the religious arena with a spirit religion. While Buddhism concerns salvation, the spirit of religion focuses on worldly welfare. Buddhism Transformed describes and analyzes the changes that have profoundly altered the character of Sinhala religion in both areas. This is the first book to record systematically the cultural impact of the deterioration in how the "other half" lives in Sri Lanka. After Sri Lankan independence in 1948, health care advanced and literacy became universal, but the economy was unable to meet the rising expectations of the exploding population. People became poorer and more mobile, and the village community began to disappear. As new stresses in Sri Lankan society create new psychological needs, changes have occurred in what the authors call Protestant Buddhism (the Buddhism formed under Protestant influence after British conquest). In the spirit cults, morally less scrupulous gods have become prominent, and more people seek and value altered states of consciousness. Finally the authors suggest that developments that seem startling in Sri Lanka are not unprecedented in the religious history of India."

In hardcover, 484 pages, Rs 445, ISBN: 9788120807020,

Nalini Devdas teaches at the Department of Religion at Carleton University in Ottawa. Also from Motilal Banarsidass, a somewhat more recent, and somewhat more philosophical a study is her Cetana and the Dynamics of Volition in Theravada Buddhism which deals with the question of what "the scriptures of Theravada Buddhism have to say about the most basic psychological processes through which alternatives are assessed, purposes are developed, and goal-oriented acts are initiated?

How can Theravada make volitional endeavour central to Buddhist practice, while denying the existence of a self who wills? How can the texts emphasize ethical striving, and yet uphold the principle that all physical and mental acts arise through and conditions? This book adds another perspective to Theravada scholarship by exploring various subtle Pali terms that seek to display the nuances of human motivation. Cetana is shown to be the purposive impetus that links ethically good and bad attitudes of mind with corresponding acts of body, speech, and mind. The argument is made that Theravada does not posit a controlling will, but seeks to establish the possibility of changing attitudes, purposes, and acts through holistic methods of training. Theravada maintains that changes in attitude are possible because the mind has the capacity to observe it own processes of conditioning, and is able to greatly diversify its environment. This work explores whether, within the boundaries of conditioned origination cetana performs the three following functions: forming a purpose, initiating action to pursue the goal specified by that purpose, and directing action towards that goal."

In hardcover, 532 pages, Rs 895, ISBN: 9788120833630

These titles figure in our Religion and Anthropology sections.

A Medical Trilogy

M S Valiathan has a remarkable career that spans at least three spheres, two more than are given to most... A surgeon who was trained in India, the UK and the US, for three decades he was a surgeon who specialised in cardiac surgery. He combined this with research on heart muscle disease which has led to the development of cardiovascular devices, including a tilting disc heart valve which is used widely in the country.

An academic administrator with flair, he was the Director of the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, then the Vice Chancellor of the Manipal Academy of Higher Education. His work has been widely recognised by various scientific and academic bodies, and in addition he has also been President of the Indian National Science Academy- a testimony to his scientific leadership.

In recent years, Dr Valiathan, who is a National Research Professor of the Government of India has turned his attention to our medical legacy, bringing his scholarship to the study of Ayurveda. This has resulted in three books published over the years by The Universities Press, Hyderabad.

Commenting on specific aspects of Caraka’s philosophy, concepts and practice, as seen from the point of view of modern medicine, The Legacy of Caraka deals with "Caraka, the master physician, is believed to have lived in the first century AD. The Samhita– composed by him forms the bedrock of ayurvedic practice today. His contribution to India’s cultural inheritance was profound. Caraka Samhita– was, in fact, a revision of an older text Agnivesa– Tantra, which was written several centuries before Caraka’s time. Caraka’s revision became so popular that it was translated into Tibetan, Arabic, English and many Indian languages. The Legacy of Caraka retells the Samhita– in a new format.

Instead of adhering to the sequence of the Sthanas in the original, the author has retold the Samhita– through thematically structured chapters, in contemporary idiom. The retelling has involved some degree of restructuring and condensation but has ensured that whatever is stated can be traced back to the original."

The second book in the series is The Legacy of Suśruta. "Suśruta’s name is synonymous with India’s surgical inheritance. A legendary figure, he is believed to have lived and taught in Varanasi several centuries before the Buddha, and composed the Suśruta Tantra which became a timeless medical classic. Though the original text was lost long ago a redaction by Nāgārjuna survived as Suśruta Samhita and won universal acclaim. The Samhita is a study of the human condition in health and disease with undisguised emphasis on surgery, and rivals Caraka’s classic in authority. In The Legacy of Suśruta, the text of Suśruta Samhita has been recast in a thematic fashion without sacrificing any of the content of the original chapters. Furthermore, it presents much of the data in tabular form, and features many tables and illustrations."

And finally, The Legacy of Vagbhata, just published. "Vagbhata completes the “Great Three” (Brhatrayi) of Ayurveda, with his predecessors, Caraka and Susruta. His identity and period are controversial but a major section of the scholarly community believes that he was a native of Sindh, who lived in the sixth century and write Astangahrdayam and Astangasngraha. The two texts frankly acknowledge the authority of Samhitas of Caraka and Susruta and closely follow in the footsteps of the earlier masters.

The Legacy of Vagbhata is based on a study of Astangahrdayam and employs a thematic approach with the plentiful use of tables. As in the earlier volumes on Caraka and Susruta, great care has been taken in this volume on Vagbhata to maintain fidelity to the original text while ensuring easy readability for the students of Ayurveda, medicine and the sciences."

All three titles are in our History of Medicine section, in hardcover.

The Legacy of Caraka, 634 pages, Rs 695, ISBN: 9788125025054
The Legacy of Susruta, 908 pages, Rs 925, ISBN: 9788125031505
The Legacy of Vagbhata, 946 pages, Rs 1195, ISBN: 9788173716683

Packing a punch

Arguably a more effective method of governance at the local level, the Panchayat Raj advocated by Mahatma Gandhi and adopted by the Government of India in the 1950's and 1960's works, and works well. However, such decentralization- each village as an autonomous unit- can only be as effective as the overall machinery will allow it to be in a country of over a billion people. And as more people migrate to the cities, there is only so much left to govern in India's villages.

The Union government amended the Constitution in 1992 so as to provide a national level institutional framework to the units of local self-government, both rural and urban. And in 2004, the formation of the Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj in was an important step in establishing an effective national level monitor.

But how well does it really work?

The National Institute of Rural Development, based in Hyderabad, has recently brought out a report on the state of these affairs, PANCHAYATI RAJ AND LOCAL GOVERNANCE. Edited by B K Sinha and K Gopal Iyer, this is essentially the proceedings of a three-day workshop of writers and thinkers convened by them in June 2006. In the words of the editors, “it was a workshop with a difference where the floor spoke and the dais listened.”

In our Governance Section. Rs 600 for both volumes.

Functioning of Panchayat Raj System, edited by Yatindra Singh Sisodia (Rawat) is another attempt to review this state of affairs. "Functioning of Panchayat Raj in India has been a matter of debate and speculation about its performance and impact. In almost all states, two or three rounds of elections for Panchayats have been completed. The sizeable presence of underprivileged and poor in the grassroots political institutions is a landmark development in the rural politics of the country. This is also a matter of serious debate as to how this excluded lot after their inclusion in active politics at grassroots would effectively tackle local power equation and set the agenda for development. The responses of state governments to the implementation of Panchayat Raj varied significantly and it is very difficult to generalise about this issue on the basis of their functioning for the last one decade or so. A perusal of functioning of Panchayat Raj puts forward a mix scenario with enough evidences of positive movements and several hurdles, nevertheless a hope for the best can be expected at this juncture."

Also in our Governance section. Rs 675, 356 pages. ISBN: 9788170339687

In Courts, Panchayats and Nagarpalikas, K C Sivaramakrishnan undertakes a comprehensive study of the Panchayat Raj. "The 73rd and the 74th Constitutional Amendments became law more than a decade ago but their implementation in different states of India has been tardy and uneven. The course of implementation has also been marked by numerous disputes, both political and legal. It is estimated there are more than 500 cases which have been adjudicated during the period in the various High Courts and the Supreme Court.

This book ... seeks to bring out the genesis, the points of jurisprudence and what can be regarded as settled law common to both the panchayats and the municipalities pertaining to issues like elections, delimitation, reservation, planning and functional domain."

Writing about in The Hindu, V K Srinivasan says the book is a "handy reference that needs to be in the hands of not only those at the helm of Panchayats and municipalities, but also district collectors and judges, who are called upon to settle issues. This book is a must for the libraries of state governments, high courts and law colleges and judicial academies."

In our Governance and Law sections, 342 pages, Rs 995. ISBN: 9788171886883

eBooks, freEbooks

Some of you will have seen the freEbooks link our our homepage where we list a few electronic books which have especially been made available via Scholars.

There is, of course, another euniverse out there, filled with ebooks, ereaders and eso on.. Of particular note is the World Public Library which has a huge selection of titles that are available as PDF files- the image on the right is from Louise Field's Peter Rabbit goes to School, which given the legend, was quite the picture to go with this post!

The 4th Annual World eBook Fair is on from July 4 to August 4, and can be reached at this site. One can download from two million PDF eBooks, so this is quite a choice! The Internet Archive, Project Gutenberg, the World Public Library.... All within reach. And there are many excellent titles in a wide range of subjects. Not just Peter Rabbit, but also, for instance, high quality advanced texts, like say Introduction to Mechanics and Symmetry: A Basic Exposition of Classical Mechanical Systems, by Jerrold E. Marsden and Tudor S. Ratiu, a Springer publication for which I recall paying an outrageous amount...

Do check out whats on offer at the eFair. This is definitely going to be one way that many of us will read in the future... And regardless of how comforting the feel of an actual book is, an eReader is much lighter than a library!

Rashbehari Bose

Revolutionary leader Rashbehari Bose (1886–1945) was one of the key organisers of the Ghadar conspiracy. Following the failed attempt to instigate an uprising against the British in 1915, he escaped to Japan, to Nakamuraya, an area of Tokyo near Shinjuku. It took him over twenty years, but with relentless perseverance, he kept true to the dream of Indian independence.

Participating actively the Indian freedom struggle abroad, Bose convened a conference in Tokyo on March 28-30, 1942, which decided to establish the Indian Independence League. At the conference he moved a motion to raise an army for Indian liberation. At the second conference of the League in Bangkok on June 22, 1942, a resolution was adopted to invite Subhas Chandra Bose to join the League and take its command as its president. The organisational structure built up by Rashbehari Bose enabled Subhash Chandra Bose to build the Indian National Army (also called 'Azad Hind Fauj').

Before his death in 1945, the Japanese Government honoured him with the 'Second Order of the Merit of the Rising Sun'. (See Wikipedia for more details.)

Bose's story has now been written, first in Japanese by Nakajima Takeshi, a graduate of the Osaka University of Foreign Studies, and a PhD from Kyoto University. Nakajima has also authored Hindu Nationalism and is currently associate professor at the Hokkaido University Public Policy School. The book has been translated from Japanese to English by Prem Motwani of the JNU as Bose of Nakamuraya: An Indian Revolutionary in Japan, and is published by Bibliophile South Asia, New Delhi.

"Rash Bihari Bose (1886-1945) was a revolutionary leader against the British in India and was one of the key organizers of the bomb attack on Lord Hardinge and the Gadar Conspiracy at Lahore. He fled to Japan to avoid a certain death sentence and spent the latter half of his life there. He became close to the right wing nationalists in Japan and was intrumental in almost persuading the Japanese authorities to support the Indian freedom struggle. He did the spadework for the creation of the Indian National Army (INA) before passing the baton on to Subhash Chandra Bose towards the end of his life.

While the post-war generation of Japanese may not know of Rash Bihari Bose, he was a well-known figure in Japan in the years before the Second World War, where he was active trying to secure foreign help for Asia's liberation from the clutches of imperialist powers, and a regular writer on Indian affairs in Japanese newspapers and magazines of the time.

Nakamuraya in Shinjuku, Tokyo, famous for its Indian curry, was the place where Rash Bihari was provided shelter for over three months by his Japanese well-wishers, defying the deportation order against him by the Japanese government. Very few people are aware that Rash Bihari Bose was instrumental in introducing authentic Indian curry to the Japanese.

Pre-war Japan has enamoured researchers the world over for obvious reasons. However, the Japanese language has been the stumbling block as very little literature, especially written by the Japanese themselves, is available in English on this era. It is obvious from this book too. Besides presenting a nail-biting account of Rash Bihari's travails, torn betwen his anti-colonialist stance and his allegiance to the Japanese Asianists for saving his life, which has been totally unknown till date, it provides rare insight into Japan's expansionism in Asia viewed from the Japanese angle."

In our Biography section, hardcover, 323 pages. Rs 700. ISBN: 9788185002989.

Golmaal!

I came to appreciate Utpal Dutt relatively late, considering. Although I recall seeing Bhuvan Shome in a pokey theatre in Calcutta in the 1960's (being more stricken by Suhasini Mulay, admittedly) it was not until Golmaal that I became a fan. Of course now seeing the earlier movies is much more rewarding, although Golmaal will remain a favourite...

As a playwright, director, or as actor Dutt (1929-93) was inspired. This year Seagull, Kolkata have brought out four books by him. "Dutt tried to take revolutionary theatre to the widest mass of people, with political messages for every turning point in a highly sensitive and rapidly changing political scenario, redefining his relationship with the political leadership again and again, getting into violent confrontations with various forces, being driven underground, and getting jailed in the process. His legacy of plays and other writing remain a valuable chapter in Indian theatre history."

On Cinema is a "collection of Dutt’s cinema writings, including his unpublished telefilmscript, In Search of Theatre, reveals a keen critical eye, an impressive knowledge of cinema all over the world and a deep understanding of the price any artist must pay for his commitment to his politics. Written with a sensibility steeped equally in the classics and Marxism, these pieces help us appreciate not only some of the world’s greatest filmmakers but also Dutt himself—the vast range of influences that coloured his creativity and his aesthetics."

On Theatre is a "collection of Dutt’s theatre writings, including the transcript of a round-table on ‘Jatra and Its Relevance’ that he participated in, records the evolution of his theatre sensibility, nurtured on Shakespeare and Communism, Jatra and Sophocles. No play escaping his attention, and no actor or director held sacred, Dutt attacks and analyses, compliments and condemns, venting both his ire and his appreciation with equal gusto, and reveals, in the process, his high expectations not only of his contemporaries but, most importantly, also of himself."

Three Plays presents three of Dutt’s plays, "in his own translation, each exploring human relationships and the tensions of class and power in a revolutionary situation. Hunting the Sun (Surya Shikar) takes us back to the pre-Mughal period, with Buddhism emerging as an intellectual revolutionary force; The Great Rebellion (Mahavidroha) is set in the battlefields of the First Indian War of Independence in 1857; and Nightmare City (Duswapner Nagari) is set on yet another battlefield—the city of Calcutta in the 1970s."


In Towards a Revolutionary Theatre, "Dutt explores the contradictions between an actor’s personality and his roles as he is forced to juggle the socio-political influences of his times. He debates on ‘political theatre’, attempting to place revolution in its historical perspective and presents his own views on matters revolutionary, drawing upon his incredible reading of world history, theatre and literature. He also writes of his association with the Indian People’s Theatre Association and the Little Theatre Group, his Marxist leanings and his determination to make a mark in ‘active politics’ through his entire body of creative output."

Like all Seagull titles, the books are imaginatively produced. They are listed in our Film Studies and Drama Sections.

On Cinema, Hardcover, 168 pages, Rs 350. ISBN : 9788170462521
On Theatre, Hardcover, 208 pages, Rs 475. ISBN: 9788170462514
Three Plays: Hunting the Sun, Hardcover, 282 pages, Rs 475. ISBN : 9788170462569
Towards a Revolutionary Theatre Hardcover, 180 pages, Rs 395. ISBN : 9788170463405

No Woman's Land

Tulika's new book, Islam, Women, and Violence in Kashmir: Between India and Pakistan brought to mind an older title from Women Unlimited, No Woman's Land. While the earlier book was an " unusual mix of memoirs, interviews, reminiscences and reflective essays", in this new book, Nyla Ali Khan, Associate Professor in the Department of English at University of Nebraska-Kearney writes on being caught in the middle. Of women, Muslims, and victims of the decades-long conflicts.

Describing the book in her preface, the author says "I have chosen to deploy oral evidence in my book, which has allowed me to approach events, notions, and literatures about which there was meager evidence from other sources. The use of oral history has empowered my interviewees/correspondents, people of J & K, in significant ways, bringing acknowledgment of hitherto disregarded opinions and experiences. In some instances, I have taken the liberty of reproducing e-mail responses, which I received from my interviewees, verbatim. I was keen on providing personal reminiscences from participants about landmark events without mediating between oral evidence/historiography and more elitist versions of history. My primary goal is to ensure that future generations of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir don't forget because if we stop remembering, we stop being."

Khan is the grand-daughter of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, the first Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. and is thus uniquely placed to write such a book. In a review, Agha Ashraf Ali says "Probably the first time a Kashmiri women rises above herself and her unfortunately limited role (particularly in these last two decades of violence, destruction and mayhem) and attempts to voice her opinion so emphatically. You will come to clearly understand through Nyla Khan’s instructive style that a journey into Kashmir symbolizes a strange exaltation that is an undefinable quest but, like a torrential rainstorm, both cleansing and destructive.”

And in Ashish Nandy's analysis “… Sadly, Kashmir has been captive, during the past sixty years, in the making of the myths of origin of India and Pakistan. Even more sadly, it now seems unable to resist the birth of a new creation myth of its own, which promises to replicate the efforts of its tormentors faithfully. Once a community experiences the trauma of state-formation at its expense, its capacity to envision a different kind of political arrangement weakens. Happily, the myth may not have yet gelled in Kashmir. This is where Nyla Ali Khan comes in.…”

In our Gender section, in paperback, 200 pages. Rs 395, ISBN: 9788189487577.