Welcome to our book review site go-pdf.online!
You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
Understanding Gandhi
Neither an ode of adulation, nor an exercise in iconoclasm, this book on Gandhi gives praise where praise is due; and criticizes where criticism is warranted. The author treads in step with Gandhi as he reveals himself in his Experiments with Truth in an honest attempt to understand the Mahatma in the making. Gandhi's veracity is not in question; but his memory, and selection and omission of episodes, inevitably temper the tenor of truth! His equation of Truth with God can only be understood as justice and fair play analogous to sat or ṛta signifying the Cosmic Order. Page after page poses questions in a bid to understand Gandhi as he speaks, writes and acts. The author relates how Gandhi ...
Polyandry in Ancient India
Scholars have studied polyandry in modern India with reference to specific areas; but the investigation of its past history in the Indian context remains a desideratum. The present book therefore fills a gap in historical research relating to an institution as interesting as it is ancient as significant as it is slighted, or sought to be swept under the carpet. Based on original sources it clearly and categorically established the prevalence of polyandry amongst Vedic Aryans as also amongst other peoples of the old Indo-European stock.
Indian Military Thought KURUKSHETRA to KARGIL and Future Perspectives
The title aspires to present a panorama of India’s yet to be fully discovered martial heritage, denoted by its unconquerable ancient epoch, a critique of the generally misread medieval age vicissitudes, followed by a survey of the contemporary & post-independence travails and triumphs. Not a historical narrative, it attempts to define what constitutes India’s natural-born military mind, how it evolved and breasted the world-conquering armies, followed by critical glimpses of the past ordeals, besides its uncelebrated defiance & conquests. The venture culminates in defining the nation’s prospective defence and development policy imperatives, for its emerging global role. It is rare in p...
The Sanskrit Epics
Mahābhārata (including Harivaṃśa) and Rāmāyaṇa, the two great Sanskrit Epics central to the whole of Indian Culture, form the subject of this new work. The book begins by examining the relationship of the epics to the Vedas and the role of the bards who produced them. The core of the work, a study of the linguistic and stylistic features of the epics, precedes the examination of the material culture, the social, economic and political aspects, and the religious aspects. The final chapter presents the wider picture and in conclusion even looks into the future of epic studies. In this long overdue survey work the author synthesizes the results of previous scholarship in the field. Herewith a coherent view is built up of the nature and the significance of these two central epics, both in themselves, and in relation to Indian culture as a whole.
Elephants & Kings
Because of their enormous size, elephants have long been irresistible for kings as symbols of their eminence. In early civilizations—such as Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Indus Civilization, and China—kings used elephants for royal sacrifice, spectacular hunts, public display of live captives, or the conspicuous consumption of ivory—all of them tending toward the elephant’s extinction. The kings of India, however, as Thomas R. Trautmann shows in this study, found a use for elephants that actually helped preserve their habitat and numbers in the wild: war. Trautmann traces the history of the war elephant in India and the spread of the institution to the west—where elephants took part in s...
From Dasarajna to Kuruksetra
Is it true that the ancient Indians had no sense of History? The book begins with this question, and points out how the ways of perceiving the past could be culture-specific and how the concept of historical traditions can be useful in studying the various ways of memorising and representing the past, even if those ways do not necessarily correspond to the methodology of the Occidental discipline called 'History'. Ancient India had several historical traditions, and the book focuses on one of them, the itihasa. It also shows how the Mahabharata is the best illustration of this tradition, and how a historical study of the contents of the text, with comparison with and corroboration from other...
India's Foreign Relations, 1947-2007
This book analyses India’s relations with its neighbours (China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka) and other world powers (USA, UK, and Russia) over a span of 60 years. It traces the roots of independent India’s foreign policy from the Partition and its fallout, its nascent years under Nehru, and non-alignment to the influence of economic liberalization and globalization. The volume delves into the underlying reasons of persistent problems confronting India’s foreign policy-makers, as well as foreign-policy interface with defence and domestic policies. This book will be indispensable to students, scholars and teachers of South Asian studies, international relations, political science, and modern Indian history.
