Book Category: Indica Books

India is a multifaceted, multicultural nation with a rich tradition of ethnic, religious, linguistic, social and cultural mores, beliefs and practices. What has allowed for such a rich diversity of people and what have been the challenges to effective communication between and among these groups? India is also Bharat, and where does the twain meet between the imagined and the real India and the imagined and the real Bharat?

This book offers insights into understanding how we deal with difference, how we perceive one another and what we do about religious, caste and regional conflicts using the lens of “communication studies”. It can be read by both intelligent and lay readers as well as students of communication, culture and other social sciences.

This book arose from questions raised in various classroom lectures, face-to-face meetings and social media conversations by the author with fellow travellers on the spiritual path. The author seeks to clear the haze around the knowledge and understanding of Sanatana dharma, and clear the cobwebs around its vedantic aspects.

The subject matter has been broken into four parts. The first part, Part A takes up general questions. Part B is confined to Hindu religion and its fundamental tenets, observances, practices, mantras, temples, gods and worship. The third part, Part C, full of Vedanta, is what sets the style and title of this book, by taking up questions, mostly on spiritual sAdhanA, many of which tend to be almost a Purva-paksha argument (an opposing logic) type. Part D is a small synopsis of the Advaita of the Upanishads, as brought out by Acharya Shankara and is intended to give a background perspective to the rest of the book.

Why ask this question today? After all, a lot is written about India, her culture, her past, her society, the psychology and sociology of individuals and groups. Why is that not enough? It is because what we have learnt so far is either false or fragmentary. If Indian culture is not a slightly inferior, slightly idiosyncratic variant of Western culture, as the received view has it for a very long time, what else is it? Research into culture and cultural differences gives novel and surprising answers. Written for an intelligent but lay public, this book shares the results of 40 years of scientific investigations in the research programme Comparative Science of Cultures. It transcends the political distinction between ‘the right’ and ‘the left’ by looking deeper into ideas on human beings, society, culture, experience, the past, impact of colonialism etc. Today, the question ‘What does it mean to be ‘Indian’?’ is both important and difficult to answer. Is there something ‘Indian’ about this culture that goes beyond the differences between Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs or Jains? What does it überhaupt mean to belong to Indian culture?

This Coffee Table book is our endeavor to bring out the glorious achievements of the Pallava and Chalukya dynasties and their awe-inducing temple constructions which have left an indelible mark on India. Their creations were pioneering structures that each subsequent kingdom, which followed them, learnt and adopted from. From the shores of Mahabalipuram to the great temple town of Kanchi, and from the capital town of Badami to Aihole and Pattadakal, we take you through a picturesque journey of the temples of these two great kingdoms. You will experience the temple architecture, the associated iconography, the inscriptions, the dynastic history and patrons for the different structures through this visual treat.

Today most scientists and philosophers have come to regard the notion of the self as a kind of illusion, as a theoretical construct similar to the notion we have of the center of gravity. There are two reasons for this phenomenon: the first is due to the view propagated by the empirical sciences that all things in the universe, including the presence of consciousness, can be explained solely from physical causes; and the second is due to the philosophical arguments marshaled against substance ontology by David Hume and Emmanuel Kant and the consequent discarding of the idea of self as substance.

This book confronts both these views – in two separate parts of the book – and shows them to be untenable. It provides a fresh proof of the self’s existence by demonstrating that the goal-oriented actions of living beings cannot be explained solely through the laws of physics and that these actions point to a unique power possessed by the self, known in Indian philosophy as kriya-shakti.  This proof, along with the Direct Perception Theory presented by the author in his ground-breaking first book ‘Natural Realism and Contact Theory of Perception’, effectively dismantles the idea that the physical universe forms a causal closure and open the doors to a domain of knowledge beyond empirical science.

Wiser is a compilation of 366 Sanskrit sayings collected from various works in Sanskrit from ancient times, particularly, Subhashita Ratna Bhandagaram of the 9th century. These sayings are full of invaluable advice in the form of shlokas on all aspects of holistic living including interactions in society, human relationships, oddities of human behaviour and control of the lower passions residing in the human mind. These maxims also cover our reaction to experiences, awareness of a divine power beyond our perception, precious anecdotes from history and many more that defy any categorization. One can randomly open any page and find oneself wiser on the other side.

The composition of ancestral Indians had always been a puzzle to the academicians. At the heart of the puzzle is the Harappan Civilization. Opinions are divided into two diametrically opposed camps. A large corpus of books and papers – both academic and otherwise – has been produced to support each camp and more so to reject the other side. Both sides have substantial research to back them and the both are also built on some uncertain premises. The passions are strong preventing any accommodations to a middle ground.

In 1921 curiously the same year when an expedition team of archaeologists had reached Harappa, a judge in Calcutta had published a book on the ancient liturgical texts called Puranas, and called it Ancient Indian Historical Tradition (Oxford-1921). The problem had its solution. It has been looming in the corridors of academia like a thousand pound gorilla, but most chose to ignore it.  For a hundred years, there had not been a single acceptable chronological narrative for the history of the world’s largest civilization of antiquity. Perhaps, now is the time.

A new paradigm on traditional histories

The book Hymns of Harappa is a new approach that takes into consideration hitherto ignored information from the Puranas and multiple relevant disciplines to arrive at a historical narrative and an acceptable chronology for the proto-historical civilization. The work has the potential to be a stimulus to further deeper and specific research in history and such related fields like archaeology, historical linguistics, archaeo-genetics, epigraphy etc.

For at least 1500 years, temple design, construction and worship have followed the canon of the āgama-s. Shouldn’t temple management also follow the āgama-s? Steeped in a history of more than two millennia, the real bequest of India’s ancient temples is that they are still living in sacred spaces. The gods that were invoked in these temples more than a thousand years ago, continue to reside in the sanctums and gaze benevolently upon their devotees.The bells ring for morning service as they did a thousand years ago.The ācārya waves the ārati just as another ācārya did a thousand years ago.No other organization in the world can boast of such amazing continuity. The secret to this longevity lies in the āgama-s.

Āgama-s are the traditional canon believed to be as old as the Vedas, with detailed manuals on temple-building, consecration and ritual worship. While the world outside the temples – a world of kings and kingdoms – has changed, temples continue to follow the āgama-s in letter and spirit in their everyday religious function, notwithstanding the many changes in administrative formats.By studying the activities of the temple, material and manpower required, qualifications and roles prescribed for the temple professionals, this thesis attempts to reconstruct an āgamic temple management framework, using the Kāmikāgama as primary text with other āgama-s, secondary literature and inscriptional evidence as required.

Thus Spake Krishna is an easy to understand elucidation of the philosophically profound Bhagavad Gita. Take any verse and this book gives, simultaneously, a simple introduction to the novice, a philosophical understanding for the initiated and plenty of cross-references for the nuanced reader. The writing is mathematically precise in unravelling the jargon, making Krishna’s teachings accessible and relevant for anyone today. You may feel that Krishna Himself is talking to you in an intimate way, motivating you into working.

Did you know that a little-known Panchala prince, Yudhamanyu, single-handedly defeated the great Duryodhana?
Or that Shakuni was a valiant warrior on the battlefield?
How did Iravan, the son of Arjuna by Naga Princess Ulupi, rout the whole Gandhara armies all by himself?
And how did the ageing king Bhagadatta, perched on his famed elephant Supratika, defeat a whole army of the Pandavas led by Bhima?

Loyal. Valiant. Steadfast.
They were all that and more.
They secured crucial victories.
They were indispensable.
And yet, there were forgotten.

Unsung Valour: Forgotten Warriorsof the Kurukshetra War is an attempt by ten writers to bring forth those forgotten warriors of the Mahabharata. Reimagined with passion and devotion, each story brings you a new perspective of the epic as each warrior gears up for his big day on the battlefield. In this epic battle, they are all related by either blood or loyalty.

These stories capture the poignance, valour, unsung victories and eventual destinies of the warriors. This is a magnificent attempt to explore the epic in dimensions that have not been explored yet.

Sadaji offers us a treatise on spiritual development by mapping the routes a sincere aspirant of Spirituality takes, as he goes on to discover the Ultimate Reality hidden behind thick layers of the mundane everyday world. Providing recognizable milestones as one progresses on the path and describing the various stages in spiritual development, Dr. Sadananda weaves a clever sequential arrangement of various articles and blogs published by him over a period of time. The book opens with benedictory essays devoted to the mother, father, teacher, and finally salutations to the Supreme Lord. However, the accent on Devotion stands out as the background theme in the rest of the essays too.

We get to see Sadaji’s poetic talents in the shlokas in Sanskrit composed by him in the memory of his mother. While a few personal anecdotes are shared by him in the context of his father and a listing of his father’s literary accomplishments, Dr. Sadananda demonstrates his complete and unquestioning surrender to his Guru, Shri Chinmayananda, in the various stories he recalls as his experiences with his teacher. After the prayers to the elders, come seven essays on Ramayana, Sundara kanda in particular. Dr. Sadananda says that the Sundara kanda narrates “the journey of Seeta – how Seeta progresses and reaches her goal. It is an adhyaatmic journey – the journey of

Self-realization. 

Sutradhar is a dramatized retelling of events, myths and legends set across the arc of Indian history. In order to be relevant to the current social climate of India and the World, the stories are written from an authentic, firmly rooted Indic perspective, exploring a wide range of worldviews, sociological schemas and philosophical approaches within the context of the narratives. The seven tales that form this collection span multiple genres, from historical fantasy to cosmic horror, and are often tinged with dark, absurdist undertones. As Rakul tells us, “This book is a fight against deracination, above all my own. The vast majority of the mainstream entertainment that we consume today is infected with both overt and subconscious messaging that pushes a vicious socio-political narrative of a particular ideological slant. The tragedy is that most people are unaware of this cultural war that is being waged upon them. This work is an attempt to bring these issues into light”

All objective sciences deal with the objectifiable entities and ignore in the process the very subject, who is doing the analysis. This book deals with the limitations of the objective sciences and also discusses how to prepare the mind so that it can SEE the truth. Transcending Science, therefore, involves how to transcend the subject-object duality, using the Yoga-Sastra discussed in Geeta and Upanishads, and how to abide in the knowledge by overcoming all the mental obstacles that arise in the process. This forms the very purpose of Life itself.

This book is a translation of Ram Prasad Bismil’s memoirs into English.

It was a cold morning, on the 19th of December, in the year 1927, when a well-built young man, barely thirty, walked to the gallows, with the chants of Vande Mataram on his lips in Gorakhpur prison. His death will be mourned by the patriots who would follow him in the struggle for Independence. However, he was forgotten by many in the years after independence. As our youth today worship false gods from foreign lands, why do we know so little about our own revolutionaries and heroes like Ram Prasad Bismil? It is mostly because their truth, their story was pushed away from the public view to the dark corners. His memoirs and writings suffered the same fate as his memory. This book by Saket Suryesh is an attempt to revive his memories because they hold answers to many questions of our future. An excerpt from the book can be found here.

A new book on Jyotisha Astrology: Its experimental proof in cell biology and the science behind it! Unbelievable?

Could you possibly imagine a book that provided a scientific proof of astrology? One that not only tells the story of many scientific experiments testing and verifying astrological predictions, but which also provides a full physical theory of the science behind it? In other words: a book that examines astrology on a full scientific basis? The Science of Medical Astrology: The Experimental Proof of Jyotisha does exactly that. Written by a rare combination of supremely skilled individuals, one a top expert in veterinary science, with a reputation that takes him for private consultations all over India, and the other a scientist with top qualifications from two of the world's best scientific universities, a Master's in Natural Sciences from the UK's University of Cambridge, and a PhD from M.I.T., partly directed by a famous Nobel laureate in physics. Rameshrao Narayan PhD and Alex Hankey PhD are the authors of this extraordinary text.

As a young vet from Bangalore, Rameshrao Narayan refused to accept a Jyotishi's warnings of a nearly fatal accident. Over the next three years, as he lay in bed recovering, he learned India's ancient system of Jyotisha astrology. As luck would have it, Professor Alex Hankey, who directs PhD research at the S-VYASA Yoga University, met Rameshrao and agreed to become his PhD guide on the very day that he joined the university.

The book is an outgrowth of Rameshrao's insights and PhD research combined with Alex's scientific skills...