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A book for the adventurous but time-pressed traveller seeking to experience the real Calcutta in a way few others will. The narrative takes you far from any tourist trail and plunges you deep into the heart of Calcutta, seen through its teeming backstreets and byways; its people and endearing idiosyncrasies Set against a backdrop of the City's social and historical development, all life is here; colourful, vibrant, relentless and inescapable.
This wandering odyssey through the city's pullulating backstreets 0and serpentine byways reveals a Calcutta rarely glimpsed by western travellers. Arranged as a series of journeys on foot through the older quarters of the city seldom trod by outsiders, the narrative chronicles the topography, social and historical background and the vibrant street life and characters which give Calcutta its uniqueness. Complete with detailed directions and street maps for the areas explored, the book provides a storehouse of indispensable information for the intrepid traveller.
An account of the author's experiences in the Indian sub-continent, living through a period of partition and independence, with an introduction to political developments and a socio-economic scenario.
This book examines a regional culture as it was subjected to acute interpretative stress for much of the nineteenth century. This is done through a study of three key facets to contemporary Hindu thought - a possible interplay between the divinely ordained and human history, innovative extensions in the meaning of older terms like 'Dharma', and new moral and cultural theories around select mythical figures and traditionally revered texts.
The Vedic-Puranic literature as well as archaeological, geological, historical, linguistic, and literary accounts have been reviewed to establish the various cultures that evolved in ancient India from about 3500 BCE to the Mahabharata War (1450 BCE). The book describes various misconceptions, e.g., the myth about an Aryan invasion. The following markers are used to establish the dates and geographical locations of various cultures: (i) The rise in sea levels due to melting of land-based snow after the last Ice Age. (ii) Migration of the Dravidian people from the lost continent of Kumari Kandam that submerged under the Indian Ocean. (iii) The dates for the start of farming, use of kiln-baked bricks, domestication of horses, and metal working in the Indian subcontinent. (iv) The dates when Sarasvati River dried up and the Mahabharata War occurred. The book notes that asva-containing or rath-containing names could not have existed before horses were domesticated or chariots were in use. The book also notes that Mathura Krsna is different from Dwarka Krsna; the two are separated by more then 1000 years. During Mathura Krsna’s time, conflicts were settled by hand-to-hand combat or with the use of a mace. In contrast, during Dwarka Krsna’s time, metal arms were used.
Chiefly in the Indian context.
The Rāmāyana, an ancient epic of India, with audiences across vast stretches of time and geography, continues to influence numberless readers socially and morally through its many re-tellings. Made available in English for the first time, the 16th century version presented here is by Candrāvatī, a woman poet from Bengal. It is a highly individual rendition as a tale told from a woman's point of view which, instead of celebrating masculine heroism, laments the suffering of women caught in the play of male ego. This book presents a translation and commentary on the text, with an extensive introduction that scrutinizes its social and cultural context and correlates its literary identity with its ideological implications. Taken together, the narrative and the critical study offered here expand the understanding both of the history of women’s self-expression in India and the cultural potency of the epic tale. The book is of interest equally to students and researchers of South Asian narratives, Rāmāyana studies and gender issues.
The author aims to use Kuchipudi Indian classical Hindu dance to educate non-Hindus about Hinduism with postcolonialism in mind. This goal arises from her dance experiences and the historical era of imperialism. Colonization occurs when those in power believe there is a need to dominate in a manner that subjugates people. Colonizers created colonies as they moved into territory because they felt there was a need to “civilize” the so-called savages of the land. Postcolonialism is an intellectual discourse that confronts the legacy of colonialism and attempts to de-colonize. With the legacy of colonialism and a postcolonial lens in mind, some research questions arise. How does she, as a Kuchipudi dancer, use Hindu dance to educate non-Hindus about the Eastern literature of Hinduism? For non-Hindus, she feels the power of the exoticizing gaze when she dances, which might very well block the educational intention of the dance. This exoticizing gaze prevents the understanding of the traditional nature of the dance and the introduction to Hinduism as a world religion. The author’s problem is moving the exotic gaze of non-Hindus to an educational gaze that seeks to learn about the ethics of Hinduism in a manner that takes into consideration the multiple perspectives of the complex society we live in today. “In short, MisirHiralall’s research highlights the role of contemplation and critical-self reflection in creating opportunities for true intercultural relations that respect the epistemologies of traditionally marginalized and stigmatized non-Western religions and cultures. This is essential theoretical and practical research for a multicultural society that is grounded in first-person, lived experience.” – Tyson E. Lewis, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Art Education, University of North Texas “Most impressive is that MisirHiralall is walking her talk through a thoughtful and lyrical self-study that is situated in the in-between: between the mind and body, the gaze of the Other and the self, the Eastern and Western worlds, and the fields of dance, religion, philosophy, cultural studies, and teacher education.” – Monica Taylor, Ph.D., Professor and Deputy Chair of the Department of Secondary and Special Education, Montclair State University “In MisirHiralall’s Confronting Orientalism, the reader is gifted with a rare glimpse into a philosopher-educator’s wrestling with her teaching through the medium of Hindu dance .... All who think seriously about the context and impact of their teaching in connection with their core values can benefit from reading of this book.” – Michael D. Waggoner, Ph.D., Professor of Postsecondary Education, University of Northern Iowa, Editor of Religion & Education