“An Introduction to Changing India” provides a comprehensive view of the rapid changes occurring in India, particularly in the fields of culture, politics, economics and technology, population, environmental issues and gender. Having carried out anthropological research on kinship, gender issues, politics, class and caste, population issues and the appropriation of information technology in India since the 1990s, the authors draw from their own fieldwork and extensive reading of research reports in order to provide a comprehensive picture of Indian life.
India is a highly diverse country, home to a wide array of languages, religions, and cultural traditions. Analyzing the dynamic religious traditions of this democratic nation sheds light on the complex evolution from India’s past to today’s modern culture. Written by leading experts in the field, Religions of India provides students with an introduction to India’s vibrant religious faiths. To understand its heritage and core values, the beginning chapters introduce the indigenous Dharmic traditions of Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism, while the later chapters examine the outside influences of Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. These chapters are designed for cross-religious comparison, with the history, practices, values, and worldviews of each belief system explained. The final chapter helps students relate what they have learnt to religious theory, preparing the way for future study. This thoroughly revised second edition combines solid scholarship with clear and lively writing to provide students with an accessible and comprehensive introduction to religion in India. This is the ideal textbook for students approaching religion in Asia, South Asia, or India for the first time. Features to aid study include: discussion questions at the end of each chapter, images, a glossary, suggestions for further reading, and an Companion Website with additional links for students to further their study.
India has become one of the world's emerging powers, rivaling China in terms of global influence. Yet people still know relatively little about the cultural changes unfolding in India today. Craig Jeffrey looks at the history of India, and considers the questions and challenges facing it today, informed by the everyday stories of Indian citizens.
India’s unfolding story, from the ancient Hindu dynasties to the coming of Islam, from the Mughal Empire to the present day India has always been a land of great contradictions. To Alexander the Great, the country was a place of clever naked philosophers and massive armies mounted on elephants – which eventually forced his army to retreat. To ancient Rome, it was a source of luxuries, mainly spices and textiles, paid for in gold—hence the enormous numbers of Roman gold coins excavated in India. At the height of the Mughal empire in 1700, India boasted 24 percent of the world economy—a share virtually equal to Europe’s 25 percent. But then its economy declined. Colonial India was known for its extremes of wealth and poverty, epitomized by the Taj Mahal and famines, maharajas and untouchables, and also for its spirituality: many-armed Hindu gods and Buddhist philosophy, Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore. India: A Short History places as much emphasis on individuals, ideas and cultures as on the rise and fall of kingdoms, political parties and economies. Anyone curious about a great civilization, and its future, will find this an ideal introduction, at times controversial, written by an author who has been strongly engaged with India for more than three decades.
India Condensed is a book for anyone who needs a quick introduction to India. History, philosophy, religion, language, literature, arts and culture are all discussed in this lively and accessible text. More than a dry recitation of dates, names and events, the topics covered range from stories and legends to current facts and observations. Thousands of years of history, culture and civilization are distilled into one handy book for easy reference.
Praise for previous editions: “To all of us who delightedly and sometimes repetitively call ourselves Old India hands, Stanley Wolpert is the acknowledged authority. This book tells why. Indian history, art, culture, and contemporary politics are here in accurate, wide-ranging, and lucid prose."—John Kenneth Galbraith “Wolpert understands India. . . . . Fluent, wide-ranging and often wise, this volume is a useful addition to a shelf of books on India.”—Washington Post Book World “A superb distillation of a lifetime's learning by UCLA's great historian of India. Refreshingly concrete and detailed, [and] vibrantly written, Wolpert's overview repeatedly succeeds at explaining a culture that gave us little things like the decimal system, chess, cotton cloth, meditation, and two religions called Buddhism and Hinduism.”—Philadelphia Inquirer “If one were to read a single book about India in a lifetime, this should be it.”—Library Journal
India is one of the oldest countries in the world. But despite its age, there are a lot of things that children do not know about India. They just think that everybody is a Hindu or that everybody is very poor. This way of thinking is especially true in the some regions of the world where people learn about India through what they see in movies and on television shows. There are so many negative stereotypes about India and about the Indian people in general on these forms of media. This creates grave misunderstandings about the true Indian people and the cultural differences that exist throughout the country. The reason why this book was written is to try and change misunderstandings by teaching children and adults about India. The content of this book breaks through all of the stereotypes and talks about the real India once and for all.
A four-volume survey of the history, cultures, geography and religions of India from ancient times to the present day. Includes more than 600 entries, arranged alphabetically. For students and general readers.
For all of India’s myths, stories and moral epics, Indian history remains a curiously unpeopled place. In Incarnations, Sunil Khilnani fills that space, recapturing the human dimension of how the world’s largest democracy came to be. His trenchant portraits of emperors, warriors, philosophers, film stars and corporate titans—some famous, some unjustly forgotten—bring feeling, wry humour and uncommon insight to dilemmas that extend from ancient times to our own.
