India Sutra


Book Description

A panoramic insider s look at the road ahead for the world s largest democracy. This is a time of unprecedented change in India. Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party dominate the political scene and are attempting to change the way Indians work, think, and pray. And there are signs that the nation is moving in directions that will benefit its people, with a resurgent economy and an expanding foreign policy presence. But simultaneously, there are serious concerns about the rise of majoritarianism and intolerance of free speech, and there appears to be no imminent end to corruption, violence against women, environmental degradation, or a host of other problems that India has struggled to overcome since its independence. What does the future hold? Is the promise of good times mere illusion? Have the democratic and humane values of India s founding fathers been forgotten? Are high-speed trains and missions to Mars overshadowing the need to achieve universal literacy, eradicate poverty, and provide food, shelter, and health care for all? Shashi Tharoorone of India s most distinguished writersattempts to answer these and other pressing questions and to demystify complex issues that have been presented by ongoing transformations of the nation. Balanced and illuminating, India Shastra is required reading for anyone wishing to understand India today. "




A River Sutra


Book Description

With imaginative lushness and narrative elan, Mehta provides a novel that combines Indian storytelling with thoroughly modern perceptions into the nature of love--love both carnal and sublime, treacherous and redeeming. "Conveys a world that is spiritual, foreign, and entirely accessible."--Vanity Fair.




Business Sutra


Book Description

In this landmark book, bestselling author, leadership coach and mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik shows how, despite its veneer of objectivity, modern management is rooted in Western beliefs and obsessed with accomplishing rigid objectives and increasing shareholder value. By contrast, the Indian way of doing business, as apparent in Indian mythology but no longer seen in practice accommodates subjectivity and diversity and offers an inclusive, more empathetic way of achieving success. Great value is placed on darshan, that is, on how we see the world and our relationship with Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. Business Sutra uses stories, symbols and rituals drawn from Hindu, Jain and Buddhist mythology to understand a wide variety of business situations that range from running a successful tea stall to nurturing talent in a large multinational corporation. At the heart of the book is a compelling premise: if we believe that wealth needs to be chased, the workplace becomes a rana-bhoomi - a battleground of investors, regulators, employers, employees, vendors, competitors and customers, if we believe that wealth needs to be attracted, the workplace becomes a ranga-bhoomi - a playground where everyone is happy.




IIMA - Economic Sutra


Book Description

A general perception exists that ancient Indian literature on economic matters is fatalistic and an admixture of sacred and secular thoughts. Economic Sutra provides a comprehensive perspective on the elements of Indian economic thought leading up to and after the Arthashastra. Economic Sutra is a perception-correction initiative to distil the Indian mind in the realm of economic thoughts and behaviour as brought out by the ancient Indian authors. It highlights the broader spread of economic ideas both prior to and sometime after Kautilya, giving insights into the purpose, actions and vision of our forefathers.




The Kama Sutra Diaries


Book Description

A provocative ‘sexploration’ of the cultural and political landscape of modern India.




AIDS Sutra


Book Description

In this groundbreaking anthology, sixteen renowned writers tell the hidden story of the AIDS crisis, illuminating the complex nature of one of the major problems facing the developing world. India is home to almost 3 million HIV cases, but AIDS is still stigmatized and shrouded in denial. Discrimination against HIV-affected individuals in hospitals, schools, and even among families is common, just as discussion about HIV and participation in prevention or treatment programs are not. In this riveting book, sixteen of India's most well-known writers go on the road to uncover the reality of AIDS in India and tell the human stories behind the epidemic.Kiran Desai travels to the coast of Andhra Pradesh, where the sex workers are considered the most desirable; Salman Rushdie meets members of Mumbai's transgender community; William Dalrymple encounters the devadasis, women who have been “married” to a temple goddess and thus are deemed acceptable for transactional sex. Eye-opening, hard-hitting, and moving, AIDS Sutra presents a side of India rarely seen before.




The Complete Kama Sutra


Book Description

This definitive volume is the first modern translation of Vatsyayana's Kama Sutra to include two essential commentaries: the Jayamangala of Yashodhara and the modern Hindi commentary by Devadatta Shastri. Alain Danilou spent four years comparing versions of the Kama Sutra in Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali, and English, drawing on his intimate experience of India, to preserve the full explicitness of the original. I wanted to demystify India, he writes, to show that a period of great civilization, of high culture, is forcibly a period of great liberty.




The Lotus Sūtra


Book Description

A concise and accessible introduction to the classic Buddhist text The Lotus Sutra is arguably the most famous of all Buddhist scriptures. Composed in India in the first centuries of the Common Era, it is renowned for its inspiring message that all beings are destined for supreme enlightenment. Here, Donald Lopez provides an engaging and accessible biography of this enduring classic. Lopez traces the many roles the Lotus Sutra has played in its travels through Asia, Europe, and across the seas to America. The story begins in India, where it was one of the early Mahayana sutras, which sought to redefine the Buddhist path. In the centuries that followed, the text would have a profound influence in China and Japan, and would go on to play a central role in the European discovery of Buddhism. It was the first Buddhist sutra to be translated from Sanskrit into a Western language—into French in 1844 by the eminent scholar Eugène Burnouf. That same year, portions of the Lotus Sutra appeared in English in The Dial, the journal of New England's Transcendentalists. Lopez provides a balanced account of the many controversies surrounding the text and its teachings, and describes how the book has helped to shape the popular image of the Buddha today. He explores how it was read by major literary figures such as Henry David Thoreau and Gustave Flaubert, and how it was used to justify self-immolation in China and political extremism in Japan. Concise and authoritative, this is the essential introduction to the life and afterlife of a timeless masterpiece.




The Heart Sutra Explained


Book Description

Renowned for its terse declaration of the perfection of wisdom, the Heart Sutra is the most famous of Buddhist scriptures. The author draws on previously unexamined commentaries, preserved only in Tibetan, to investigate the meanings derived from and invested into the sutra during the later period of Indian Buddhism. The Heart Sutra Explained offers new insights on "form is emptiness, emptiness is form," on the mantra "gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha," and on the synthesis of Madhyamika, Yogacara, and tantric thought that characterized the final period of Buddhism in India. It also includes complete translations of two nineteenth century Tibetan commentaries demonstrating the selective appropriation of Indian sources.




Erotic Literature of Ancient India


Book Description

This book explores a number of ancient Indian erotic texts that take the reader through the terrain of the beautiful, the sensual, and the most desirable. The Kama Sutra, Kokashastra, Geeta Govinda, Panchcayala, Anang Ranga, Kama Sambhav and Rasik Priya are all treatises on erotic love, a subject the author explores with grace, subtlety and a generous appreciation of the basic human urge to desire and be desired.