A Garland of Indian Thoughts


Book Description

A Garland of Indian Thoughts is a book of poems that has been penned in lucid language out of deep experience. The book is organized with a visual and context content so that reader can easily relate to the experience of the author. The book is divided into three sections: Random Thoughts, Nature Gallery and Travel Diary. Random Thoughts are based on observations and life experiences of the author as part of his understanding of his own life and people around him. There is also outpouring of thought as a result of his seeking deeper meaning to life observation. The connectivity amongst different sensory information can also be seen in the poems. The various hues of literary brush strokes combine to provide a highly aesthetic object of art, where one can see a specific dimension akin to his or her taste. There are verses inspired by philosophical enquiry, observation of art and sensitivities brought to the surface by books read. Close friendship and family relations have also inspired some of the poems in this section. Nature Gallery sections deals with author's intimate observation of events that unfold around him in his natural surroundings. The monsoon in India, autumn colours in Europe, mountains and valleys, flock of birds in the sky, rock formations, a lone Baobab tree against the setting sun and the Leonid shower have all inspired the verses in this section. As the author had travelled extensively during his work and holidays, his experiences of places and people and their significance is brought out in poetry. The quiet ruins of Tintern Abbey, castles of North Wales, River Dart originating in the moors of Devon, the surreal ambience of the Hoysala Temples of Karnataka in South India, historical reminiscence of events in Venice and many more locales have spurred the verses in this section. This section and the book ends with a set of short verses bordering on the limerick on the infamous shores on Devonshire where smuggling was rampant in the past.




Garland of Visions


Book Description

Garland of Visions explores the generative relationships between artistic intelligence and tantric vision practices in the construction and circulation of visual knowledge in medieval South Asia. Shifting away from the traditional connoisseur approach, Jinah Kim instead focuses on the materiality of painting: its mediums, its visions, and especially its colors. She argues that the adoption of a special type of manuscript called pothi enabled the material translation of a private and internal experience of "seeing" into a portable device. These mobile and intimate objects then became important conveyors of many forms of knowledge—ritual, artistic, social, scientific, and religious—and spurred the spread of visual knowledge of Indic Buddhism to distant lands. By taking color as the material link between a vision and its artistic output, Garland of Visions presents a fresh approach to the history of Indian painting.




The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music


Book Description

In this volume, sixty-eight of the world's leading authorities explore and describe the wide range of musics of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Kashmir, Nepal and Afghanistan. Important information about history, religion, dance, theater, the visual arts and philosophy as well as their relationship to music is highlighted in seventy-six in-depth articles.




Music and Musical Thought in Early India


Book Description

Offering a broad perspective of the philosophy, theory, and aesthetics of early Indian music and musical ideology, this study makes a unique contribution to our knowledge of the ancient foundations of India's musical culture. Lewis Rowell reconstructs the tunings, scales, modes, rhythms, gestures, formal patterns, and genres of Indian music from Vedic times to the thirteenth century, presenting not so much a history as a thematic analysis and interpretation of India's magnificent musical heritage. In Indian culture, music forms an integral part of a broad framework of ideas that includes philosophy, cosmology, religion, literature, and science. Rowell works with the known theoretical treatises and the oral tradition in an effort to place the technical details of musical practice in their full cultural context. Many quotations from the original Sanskrit appear here in English translation for the first time, and the necessary technical information is presented in terms accessible to the nonspecialist. These features, combined with Rowell's glossary of Sanskrit terms and extensive bibliography, make Music and Musical Thought in Early India an excellent introduction for the general reader and an indispensable reference for ethnomusicologists, historical musicologists, music theorists, and Indologists.




The Lost Age of Reason


Book Description

Jonardon Ganeri tells the story of a fascinating period in intellectual history, when Indian philosophy moved into the modern era. Philosophers no longer defer to ancient authorities, but draw upon their insights to seek a true understanding of knowledge, self, and reality. This missing chapter in the development of modernity can at last be read.




A Garland of Forgotten Goddesses


Book Description

Imagining the divine as female is rare—even controversial—in most religions. Hinduism, by contrast, preserves a rich and continuous tradition of goddess worship. A Garland of Forgotten Goddesses conveys the diversity of this tradition by bringing together a fresh array of captivating and largely overlooked Hindu goddess tales from different regions. As the first such anthology of goddess narratives in translation, this collection highlights a range of sources from ancient myths to modern lore. The goddesses featured here battle demons, perform miracles, and grant rare Tantric visions to their devotees. Each translation is paired with a short essay that explains the goddess’s historical and social context, elucidating the ways religion adapts to changing times.




Andal's Garland


Book Description

In eighth century India, Andal is born into a world where girls are married and with child by fourteen. Defying the mores of her time, she refuses marriage to a mortal man. Only a god will do. Andal’s imagination is boundless and her antics set the town’s tongues wagging. As Andal becomes more and more absorbed by her visions, she composes songs to her divine lover. Saisha discovers Andal’s songs in a book on a trip to India with her partner Marcus. The verses are confronting and unearth memories Saisha thought were long ago buried. Not only is she unable to conceive, for the past two decades Marcus has chosen celibacy. What defines her as a woman when these two primal desires remain unfulfilled? Andal’s words are deceptively simple, yet shine a lamp on the labyrinths of Saisha’s sexuality and her quest to find peace with the choices she has made.




Brahman and Dao


Book Description

The present geopolitical rise of India and China evokes much interest in the comparative study of these two ancient Asian cultures. There are various studies comparing Western and Indian philosophies and religions, and there are similar works comparing Chinese and Western philosophy and religion. However, so far there is no systemic comparative study of Chinese and Indian philosophies and religions. Therefore there is a need to fill this gap. As such, Brahman and Dao: Comparative Studies of Indian and Chinese Philosophy and Religion is a pioneering volume in that it highlights possible bridges between these two great cultures and complex systems of thought, with seventeen chapters on various Indo-Chinese comparative topics. The book focuses on four themes: metaphysics and soteriology; ethics; body, health and spirituality; and language and culture.




A Garland of Forgotten Goddesses


Book Description

Imagining the divine as female is rare—even controversial—in most religions. Hinduism, by contrast, preserves a rich and continuous tradition of goddess worship. A Garland of Forgotten Goddesses conveys the diversity of this tradition by bringing together a fresh array of captivating and largely overlooked Hindu goddess tales from different regions. As the first such anthology of goddess narratives in translation, this collection highlights a range of sources from ancient myths to modern lore. The goddesses featured here battle demons, perform miracles, and grant rare Tantric visions to their devotees. Each translation is paired with a short essay that explains the goddess’s historical and social context, elucidating the ways religion adapts to changing times.




The Garland of Letters


Book Description

Ancient text refer to Advait Vedanta, examined by prominent Sanskrit scholar Arthur Avalon.