THE ORIGINS OF YOGA AND TANTRA: Geoffrey Samuel; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge House, 4381/4, Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi-110002. Rs. 995.
RAJAN GURUKKAL
The book discusses, in a historical perspective, the techniques of mental and physical cultivation known as Yoga, Tantra and Dhyana which are integral to the religious traditions of early India. In the […]

REPRESENTATIONS OF A CULTURE IN INDIAN ENGLISH POETRY: Mita Biswas; Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Rashtrapati Nivas, Shimla-171005. Rs. 470.
M. S. NAGARAJAN
How long can foreign poets Provide the staple of your lines?
Turn inward. Scrape the bottom of your past.
- R. Parthasarathy, Rough Passage
Invariably Indian poetry in English has received a mixed response from […]

VIOLENT GODS: Hindu Nationalism in India’s Present: Angana P Chatterji; Three Essays Collective, B-957, Palam Vihar, Gurgaon-122017. Rs. 500.
PARVATHI MENON
Angana Chatterji’s starting point for her study on the growth of Hindu majoritarianism in the specific context of Gujarat was a visit she made to Orissa in the summer of 2002, soon after the Gujarat riots. […]

It is a call to respect the inalienable right of all to learn their languages and through their languages 

MULTILINGUAL EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE: Edited by Ajit K. Mohanty, Minati Panda, Robert Philipson, Tove Skutnabb-Kangas; Orient Blackswan 1/24, Asaf Ali Road, New Delhi-110002. Rs. 675.
V. VASANTHI DEVI
“Multilingual education is human rights education,” is […]

The lives of artisans and the intricate processes of their craft are well documented.

Paramparik Karigar; published by Paramparik Karigar, price not stated.
SABITA RADHAKRISHNA
Paramparic Karigar, an Association of craftspersons based in Mumbai, committed to promote and preserve traditional Indian Craft recently brought out a book of the same name. The book has been sensitively put together […]

Award-winning author Chimamanda Adichie discusses her fiction and her approach to her writing in an e-mail interview.

 
R. KRITHIKA
Chimamanda Adichie announced her arrival on the world stage with Purple Hibiscus (2003), which won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award besides being short-listed for the Orange Prize and the Jo hn Llewellyn Rhys Prize. […]

Revolves round two basic themes: intensifying anti-colonial and protest politics, and communalism

TOWARDS FREEDOM — Documents on the Movement for Independence in India, 1939 — Part 2: Edited by Mushirul Hasan; Oxford University Press, YMCA Building, Jai Singh Road, New Delh-110001. Rs. 3950.
SURANJAN DAS
This book, which is the second part of Mushirul Hasan-edited […]

THE NEXT FRONTIER— National Development, Political Change and the Death Penalty in South Asia: David T. Johnson and Franklin E. Zimring; Oxford University Press, YMCA Library Building, Jai Singh Road, New Delhi-110001.
USHA RAMANATHAN
The death penalty is a mystery in our midst. Europe has done away with it, and that does not seem to have hurt […]

THE INNER PALACE — An Anthology of Select Writings of Kumudini: Translated by Ahana Lakshmi; Pub. by Srirangam Srinivasa Thathachariar Trust, 91/152 South Chitrai Street, Srirangam-620006. Rs. 300.

ASHOKAMITRAN
Kumudini, pseudonym for Ranganayaki Thatham (1905-1986), was one of the visionary, self-taught women writers of the period, 1935-1965. Along with modest, self-effacing Tamil women like Guhapriyai, Anuthama, […]

RAGHUVIRAGADYAM: With commentary in Tamil by N.R. Sowmya Narayana Thathachariar; Copies can be had from J. Badrinarayanan, 10/25, Gopala Menon Road, Kodambakkam, Chennai-600024.

V. N. GOPALA DESIKACHARIAR
Vedanta Desika, the celebrated poet-philosopher-polymath and a great exponent of Visishtadvaita, has authored more than 120 works in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and Tamil, spanning a wide genre that include philosophical treatises, […]