Janakiharana of Kumaradasa


Book Description

Janakiharana of Kumaradasa is the first Sanskrit Mahakavya, so far as the extant literature goes, to deal solely with the whole of the Ramayana-story. Its further interest is that it was produced in Ceylon, showing thereby the wider world over which Sanskrit had its sway. After manuscripts of the full text of the poem in twenty cantos had to come to light in South India, what is now presented was the first systematic and critical study to be undertaken to the author and the text and its position vis-a-vis other Mahakavyas. In addition to the above study and the critical edition of the cantos which were at that time unpublished, the book offers an examination of the large number of extra-verses found in some MSS of the text and showing them as interpolations.




History of Classical Sanskrit Literature


Book Description

The present work is an analytical account of classical Sanskrit literature in its historical perspective. It is divided into six books, containing several chapters, each dealing with a particular branch of Sanskrit learning. The work is full of references; the footnotes refer to a variety of sources, legendary, inscriptional, numismatic, architectural and literary. The writer has exploited all the relevant material of the journals, catalogues, annals, reports and other documents in discussing the vexed problems of the date, place, genealogy of the authors and the literary tendencies of their compositions. His methodology of literary criticism is rationalistic and bears the stamp of the modern scientific age. The elaborate index, the critical introduction, the exhaustive bibliography, the list of abbreviations, the table of transliteration and a supplement are the most useful additions to this interesting and instructive work of literary history.




Mashuq - E - Jaan


Book Description

Though the territorial world we live in is pretty and glamorizing, it also lacks anything real other than chagrin, monotony and general annoyance. Over centuries and trans-continentally, the deprived and defenestrated human beings have exalted, glorified and revered explosive sexuality, longing and desire in many forms. In the pre-technological era sans automation and mechanics, spiritual poetry and erotic verses has remained two of the most popular forms of devotion to the beloved. Eroticism and Mysticism in love often appears confusingly entangled and inextricable. It often becomes hard to discern whether there is erotic love camouflaged under the illusion of mysticism, or there is mystical spiritual love tacitly masquerading as erotic proclivity. In spite of sensual badgering and carnal victimization, the concupiscent poets and poeticules dared to write candidly and canonize their sybaritic love for the beloved. Many of them vanished, engulfed and eclipsed into their beloved. Many of them dispersed, subsumed and merged subconsciously with their demiurge. What remains back is their enthralling and intrepid chronicle of love and longing, desire and affection. Presented in this book are a compendium of translated verses and songs of love & devotion to the “Beloved & the Lover” - across the Indian Heartlands and Persian Frontiers. You will discover that your longings are universal longings, you are not alone.



















Indian Culture


Book Description

The author, a historian of repute, confronts important issues of Indian history in this classic work. He raises such questions as “Was there an Aryan Invasion of India in the past?”, “Is the caste system a bane or a boon?”, “Did Indian women enjoy equal rights in ancient times?”, “Was Democracy an alien concept to Vedic Indians?”, “Why Buddhism became extinct in the country of its origin?”, “What is India’s lasting contribution to the field of Science, Mathematics, Astronomy, Medicine, Chemistry, Metallurgy, etc.?”, “Was Indian Culture greatly impacted by foreign religions?”, “How did India influence its neighbouring Eastern and Western countries?”, “Is Sanskrit only an off-shoot of the Indo-European Languages Group?”, “What was the scale of the social, economic and political implosion detonated by two centuries of British Colonial Rule?”. The author has answered the above vexing questions based on an intensive study of Archaeology, Epigraphy, Numismatics, original records in different languages and the travelogues of foreign visitors.(Translator’s Note).




Literary Cultures in History


Book Description

Publisher Description