India - Glimpses of her Journey : 500000 BCE till Today


Book Description

The knowledge and general range of interest in Indian history is restricted to Indus Valley Civilization, Mughal Dynasty (that too up to Aurangzeb's reign), Sher Shah Suri (for his building Grand Trunk Road, though it was built long before him), Mohammad-ibn Tughlak (due to the wrong and whimsical actions shown during his reign) and British era (restricted to Battle of Plassey and Lord Clive). Moreover, the major focus of history is oriented mainly around political history. Social and natural history is mostly ignored from general historical information. The 12,000-year-old Indian historical timeline is vast, and it may take years to acquire reasonable knowledge of the history of India. This book makes an effort to catch this vast spectrum of Indian history as a snippet in limited space. Efforts are made to capture social, natural, scientific, art, and human history alongside political history. Indian history, for the general readers, focuses mostly on North Indian (?ry?varta) History. Not many are aware of the rich history of the south of Vindhya Range and also the history of India that exists east of Patna. This book attempts to capture the contemporary history of South India and Eastern India along with North Indian History. The study of history is not complete unless one gets an overall global perspective of a particular period. This book tries to capture contemporary Global History alongside Indian History in that particular age.




India - Glimpses of Her Journey


Book Description

The knowledge and general range of interest in Indian history is restricted to Indus Valley Civilization, Mughal Dynasty (that too up to Aurangzeb's reign), Sher Shah Suri (for his building Grand Trunk Road, though it was built long before him), Mohammad-ibn Tughlak (due to the wrong and whimsical actions shown during his reign) and British era (restricted to Battle of Plassey and Lord Clive). Moreover, the major focus of history is oriented mainly around political history. Social and natural history is mostly ignored from general historical information. The 12,000-year-old Indian historical timeline is vast, and it may take years to acquire reasonable knowledge of the history of India. This book makes an effort to catch this vast spectrum of Indian history as a snippet in limited space. Efforts are made to capture social, natural, scientific, art, and human history alongside political history. Indian history, for the general readers, focuses mostly on North Indian (Āryāvarta) History. Not many are aware of the rich history of the south of Vindhya Range and also the history of India that exists east of Patna. This book attempts to capture the contemporary history of South India and Eastern India along with North Indian History. The study of history is not complete unless one gets an overall global perspective of a particular period. This book tries to capture contemporary Global History alongside Indian History in that particular age.




Indus Valley Civilization Script Decoded


Book Description

Scientists discover Y-DNA haplogroups O2a and mt-DNA haplogroup M4a in the Rakhigarhi ancient DNA. These haplogroups are associated with the speakers of Austro-Asiatic languages such as Mundari, Santali and Khasi. These haplogroups and related languages are also present in Southeast Asia. In India, speakers of these languages are currently found mostly in Central and East India. Even though a prominent philologist of Harvard University, Mr. Michael Witzel, has argued the case for a language close to Munda (which he calls para-Mundari) being one of the languages of the erstwhile Indus Valley, a finding of this nature will come as a surprise to most others. So if the genetics do find haplogroups O and M4a in Rakhigarhi, some of our current understanding of Indian history may have to be revised. Tony Joseph in The Hindu, December 23, 2017




Whose India Is It Anyway?


Book Description

Whose India Is It Anyway? This book is an exploration of the abiding idea of India, through the blend of a true-to-life story of a principled son of the soil, and the author’s own experience and research on the subject. The first part of the book takes the reader through the life and times of one Hira, who, despite a battle-hardened stint in World War II, followed by facing the horrors of the partition, and grave personal loss, continued to live a resiliently progressive life, symbolising the vicissitudes of India’s irrepressible life story. The second part investigates the idea of India rooted in its scriptures and literature, crystallizing into recommendations on how to build an invulnerable and abundant India, fit to play her destined global role; before eventually touching on pertinent angles of the theme to help the reader arrive at a plausible answer to the title query. A must-read book both for foreign and indigenous booklovers: For the foreigners wanting to know India and for Indians to better understand themselves.




The Chautauquan


Book Description




LIFE


Book Description

LIFE Magazine is the treasured photographic magazine that chronicled the 20th Century. It now lives on at LIFE.com, the largest, most amazing collection of professional photography on the internet. Users can browse, search and view photos of today’s people and events. They have free access to share, print and post images for personal use.




The Educational Heritage of Ancient India


Book Description

Just a thousand years ago, India was dotted with universities across its length and breadth, where international students flocked to gain credentials in advanced education. This illustrated book describes how these multi-disciplinary centers of learning existed in several forms such as forest universities, brick-and-mortar universities and temple universities. It examines the funding for these citadels of learning and their graduation ceremonies. The process by which India’s ancient systems of education helped to fuel a knowledge revolution around the world with its manuscripts, forming the basis for monographs and academic papers, is explained with references. The marauding incursions by Muslim invaders, which disrupted the idyllic world of university learning in India, followed by European colonization, which led to further erosion and degeneration of India’s traditional learning systems, have been taken up in some detail. Readers will get a snapshot view of India's education system down the ages from ancient to modern times.




Resistance and Unity: The Chinese Invasion, Makchi Shangri Lhagyal, and A History of Tibet [1947-1959]


Book Description

This book is an important addition to the history of Tibetan opposition to the Chinese takeover of their country. Shangri Lhagyal was one of many Tibetans who refused to cooperate with the Chinese as they tried to substantiate and legitimate their claim to sovereignty over Tibet. He, like many others, was forced into open opposition as the only honorable option. Although he modestly resisted a leadership role in the Resistance, his competence and reputation for integrity led others to choose him as one of the most important Resistance leaders. Although he did not leave an extensive written record, several members of his family have admirably filled in the historical record of the events in which he played such an important role. As the editors of this account have emphasized, it is important for Tibetans as well as the outside world to know the true history of the Tibetan resistance to China's forcible imposition of its rule over the formerly independent country. -- Warren W. Smith, author of Tibetan Nation: A History of Tibetan Nationalism and Sino-Tibetan Relations This book is inspired by H.H. the Dalai Lama's idea that each Tibetan refugee, especially the freedom fighters, should document their personal experiences to inspire and to keep coming generations of Tibetan well informed about the true history of Tibet. The book deals brilliantly with many minute and significant details of modern Tibetan history, lived by ordinary citizens, which would have otherwise gone unrecorded and unsung. It is, by all means, a must-read for the new generation of Tibetans as well as their non-Tibetan supporters. --Vijay Kranti, author of Dalai Lama: The Soldier of Peace Resistance and Unity is more than Makchi Shangri Lhagyal's personal story. It is a condensed modern history of Tibet from a Tibetan perspective. Following Shangri Lhagyal's life, readers go back to the crucial years of the 1950s-60s when Tibet--a country that was never before ruled by any foreign power--was made part of the People's Republic of China. Tibetan freedom fighters fought heroically against social transformation programs forcefully imposed by the Chinese Communist Party. Many fought to the last drop of blood. For Chinese readers, this is a must-read book. --Jianglin Li, author of Tibet in Agony: Lhasa 1959




The Pharaoh Returns


Book Description

Egypt is an archeologist’s delight, a tourist’s dream vacation, a sculptor’s pilgrimage location and a philosopher’s learning destination. This is due to the country’s extraordinary, ancient civilization that poses more questions than answers to today’s scientists, researchers and intelligentsia. There are many secrets and mysteries surrounding ancient Egypt – the life of the pharaohs, construction of megastructures like the pyramids and the Sphinx, their gods, temples and rituals, arts, occult sciences and hieroglyphs and concepts of mummification and afterlife. All these subjects have been discussed in detail and made interesting to absorb the interest of readers. This book also briefly covers the history of Egypt from 2500 BC to the Greek, Roman and Arab conquests of Egypt till 646 AD. During the research that was done for the book, the author discovered a lot of similarities between the contemporaneous Egyptian and Indian civilizations, and they have been succinctly brought out. Many people around the world have heard about the greatness of ancient Egypt but lack the in-depth knowledge about what exactly transpired in that era. The Egyptian civilization that lasted for nearly three millennia is unparalleled in the annals of world history in terms of their exceptional advancement and unique culture. This book is a sincere attempt to demystify Egypt for the layman, and showcases the entire ancient Egyptian history along with its secret mysteries for readers. I assure you that this book will be a great learning and revealing experience.




Sons of Sikkim


Book Description

This book, Sons of Sikkim: The Rise and Fall of the Namgyal Dynasty of Sikkim, is not a comprehensive history of Sikkim; it is only a brief history of Sikkim’s Namgyal Dynasty, which ruled the former Kingdom of Sikkim for more than 300 years (1642-1975). The main purpose of writing this book is to give the ordinary people – in Sikkim and elsewhere – a glimpse of Sikkim’s history: its origin in the 13th century, advent of the Namgyal Dynasty in mid-17th century, invasion of neighbouring countries in the 18th and 19th centuries, and finally, the emergence of the kingdom as a democracy in the 20th century, leading ultimately to its present status – the 22nd State of India. There are very few books dealing on the above subjects in great detail in one book. Most books on Sikkim’s history and politics are either one-sided or fail to present a holistic view of Sikkim. A book such as this is perhaps written for the first time by a Sikkimese and from the Sikkimese perspective. History is not always written by the victors; at times, as in this case, it is written by its victims. Empires fall, civilizations crumble but the human spirit, which fights against all kinds of oppression and exploitation, cannot be extinguished so easily. More than anything else, the story of the Sons of Sikkim is a story worth telling; a story of a small Himalayan kingdom and its people’s struggle to survive in the face of great odds.