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Cinema Through Rasa discusses the important works of the world cinema in the light of Rasa Siddhānta of the Indian classical aesthetics. Rasa Siddhānta was first mentioned in Bharata Muni’s Nāṭyaśāstra – the ancient treatise on dramaturgy. This book catalogues the major cinematic works in the light of Abhinavabhāratī – a tenth-century commentary on the Nāṭyaśāstra by the great Kashmiri Śaivite philosopher Abhinavagupta. Further, it outlines the links between puruṣārtha, the cultural value system of life pursuits in Indian tradition, and aesthetics while citing examples from the works of major directors such as Orson Welles, Luis Buñuel, Ingmar Bergman, Akira Kurosawa, Andrei Tarkovsky, Alfred Hitchcock, Carl Dreyer, Charlie Chaplin, Sergei Eisenstein, Robert Bresson and Satyajit Ray.
Using contemporary scholars’ interpretation of non-dualistic Kashmir Śaivism tradition, Cinema Through Rasa aims to serve as a tribute to Abhinavagupta’s genius, a commentary on important ideas such as rasa, nature of emotions, cinema and beauty along with a tryst with the masterpieces of the world cinema. The meaning of this book is summarized by this verse – na hi rasād r̥te kaścid arthaḥ pravartate – the medium of cinema, though modern, should be seen as resting in the power of rasa without which nothing makes any sense.
This book is a translation of the original Hindi book Abhinava Cinema, which was first published in 2016. Abhinava Cinema was lauded as innovative, path-breaking and a must-read for students of literature and cinema studies by scholars and critics.
The book vividly presents, analyses and critiques the varied facets of Indian aesthetics, especially the theory and technique of classical Indian dance, while doing a penetrating study of interrelationship that dancing has with literature, sculpture and music. In doing so, the book surveys and analyses the contribution of all great Sanskrit authors, theoreticians, playwrights of ancient and classical India along with the works many Bhāṣā scholars of arts, aesthetics and literature.
This volume is the result of many years of painstaking research in a field, which had been neglected by art historians, and thus presenting an idealistic view of the whole tradition of Indian art and aesthetics. This definitive work on the inherent interrelationship of the Indian arts is a path-breaking endeavour, treading into a domain which no one had explored. For that to happen, the author has delved deep into enormous mass of literature on the subject and has also surveyed the portrayal of dance figures in ancient temples. With Dr Kapila Vatsyayan’s profound knowledge of various dance forms as a performing artist of her own standing and having studied the sculptures and artefacts minutely, the book emerges so scholarly emanating the wisdom and know-how of a persona, endowed with the unique combination of a researcher, an art historian and an aesthetician par excellence.
The book vividly presents, analyses and critiques the varied facets of Indian aesthetics, especially the theory and technique of classical Indian dance, while doing a penetrating study of interrelationship that dancing has with literature, sculpture and music. In doing so, it surveys and analyses the contribution of great Sanskrit authors, theoreticians, playwrights of ancient and classical India such as Bharata, Bhāsa, Kālidāsa, Śūdraka, Bhavabhūti, Abhinavagupta, Jayadeva and many more along with numerous Bhāṣā scholars of arts, aesthetics and literature, covering each and every nook and corner of the Indian subcontinent.
This highly scholarly work should invoke keen enthusiasm among Sanskritists, art historians, dancers and students of varied art forms alike, and should pave the way for ongoing researches on all the topics covered within its scope.
Jain, Bauddha and Ajivaka belong to Sramanic tradition. Ajivakas were firm believers of determinism (Niyativada). Determinism, in philosophy, implies that all events, including moral choices, are completely determined by previously existing causes. But when we talk about niyati as per Jain perspectives, there is a doctrine of karma. According to karma theory, an individual’s present condition is determined not by any absolute principle but by his own actions performed either in his past lives or in this life. By freely choosing the right course and following it faithfully, he could improve his destiny and ultimately win salvation.
But Jainism does not totally reject the doctrine of Niyativada. It talks of five co-factors (panca-samavaya), i.e. kala, svabhava, niyati, purvakrta and purusa. The first cause of the universe is false when each of the five factors is taken singly but true when they are considered jointly. Buddhist text Digha Nikaya talks of two types: (1) Theistic determinism (2) Karmic determinism. However, Buddha does not teach that we have complete freedom or that we are determined, but that our will is conditioned or limited to a greater or lesser extent.
This volume contains ten selected papers that present the philosophical discussion on determinism in Srmananic traditions, particularly in Jainism.
This work focuses on the various facets of queer activism, using different art forms like cinema, photography and literature to lay bare the queer and spatial politics of contemporary India. The key issues that have been explored through this book are necropolitics, issues surrounding sex-reassignment surgery (SRS), trans-feminism, trans-misogyny, translation of the queer geographies including deathscapes, AIDs citizenship and queer flânerie.
Representation of non-normative sexualities is still a tantalizing dream in India, even within the oblique and supposedly more liberal platforms like art and literature. Catering to this need, this study focuses on the exploration of the deviant sexualities in cinema, photography and literature, specially in the Indian context. Unfortunately, even within the queer artistic explorations, hijras have not been much represented and therefore the first part of the book aims to excavate the multiplicity of the transgender lives by analysing various art forms, having transgender cinema and hijra photographic series as the major thrust areas. These tales of plain subjugation hide convoluted issues like necropolitics, overlap among sports, gender identity and nationalism, crazy-queen syndrome, pansexuality, transfeminism and transmisogyny.
The second part of this book deals with the contemporary gay and lesbian literature and how a specific kind of spatial appropriation is visible there. Through these artistic works, there is an attempt to excavate the specific Indian queer spatial experiences which are quite different from the visibility-centric coming out narratives of the West. As opposed to perceiving invisibility only as a monolithic technique of erasure, these works demonstrate that secrecy and camouflage are also strategies to combat the insidious effects of homophobia. And since Indian spatial configuration produces many homosocial spaces, the unique coexistence of homo and hetero desires is a specific feature of Indian ethos. Thus, the mutually symbiotic relationship between art and emancipatory politics is quite evident from the detailed discussion on various art forms that depict queer lives. The key issues that have been explored through this book are necropolitics, issues surrounding sex-reassignment surgery (SRS), transfeminism, exploration of queer geographies including death scapes, AIDs citizenship and queer flânerie. It indubitably legitimizes somewhat the role of art in queer politics at a fundamental level.
This book is an anthology of seventeen cerebral articles from well-known Buddhist scholars associated with major universities across the globe deliberating many a topic associated with Buddhist religion and its philosophies as part of our constant striving to understand the fundamental nature of what the Buddha wanted us to realize.
There have been serious attempts to understand the Buddha and his teachings since the inception of Buddhism some 2,600 years ago. All through the history of Buddhism, scholars were constantly striving to understand the fundamental nature of what the Buddha wanted us to realize. This book is an anthology of seventeen cerebral articles from well-known Buddhist scholars associated with major universities across the globe. In four parts – Meditation; Personality and Position; Dharmakirti and Persons; and Principles, History and Grammar – it highlights some pertinent topics associated with Buddhism and its legacy.
Part I discusses the diverse dimensions of meditation, dedicating itself to the kiriya (action) aspects of Buddhism. Part II is an attempt to delineate and study the major branches of Buddhism. Part III deliberates on the contributions of Dharmakirti and Rahula Sankrtyayana to the Buddhist philosophy along with the concept manusa-panatipata and how the revelation of reality of human experience by analysis helps a person to achieve wisdom in the light of Majjhima Nikaya Anathapindikovadasutta. Part IV has papers on different philosophical and applied concepts of Buddhism.
This volume thus should benefit one in understanding many an aspect of Buddhism vis-à-vis its enormous corpus of literature and teachings. It should highly benefit the students of Buddhism and for those who are keen to fathom deep into the myriad topics of Buddhist philosophy and teachings.
ध्यान-योग ध्यान के सैद्धान्तिक, व्यावहारिक व वैज्ञानिक पहलुओं को प्रकाशित करने वाली एक अद्भुत व अनमोल पुस्तक है। ध्यान की अवधारणा, योग शास्त्रें में ध्यान का स्वरूप, ध्यान का आध्यात्मिक महत्त्व, ध्यान की तैयारी एवं ध्यान द्वारा शरीर व मन पर पड़ने वाले प्रभाव का वैज्ञानिक विवेचन-विश्लेषण आदि बिन्दुओं को इस पुस्तक में बहुत ही सहजता, सरलता व सुन्दरता के साथ प्रस्तुत किया गया है। नियमित रूप से ध्यान करने हेतु विविध प्रकार की ध्यान की विधियाँ व अभ्यास एवं ध्यान की वैज्ञानिकता इस पुस्तक कोे ध्यान पर लिखी गई अन्य पुस्तकों से न सिर्फ अलग करती है बल्कि इसकी गुणवत्ता में अभिवृद्धि करने के साथ-साथ इसकी सुन्दरता में चार चाँद भी लगाती है। आज भौतिकवादी और भोगवादी जीवन-दृष्टि, भौतिकता की अन्धी दौड़ व चकाचौंध ने मनुष्य के स्वास्थ्य, सुख-चैन व शान्ति को छीन लिया है। आज सम्पूर्ण मानव समाज को यौगिक जीवन-दृष्टि, आध्यात्मिक जीवन-दृष्टि की परम आवश्यकता है। इस दृष्टि से यह पुस्तक और भी अधिक उपयोगी, महत्त्वपूर्ण एवं प्रासंगिक है। विकृत जीवन-शैली के कारण नानाविध शारीरिक, मानसिक व मनोकायिक रोगों से पीड़ित, परेशान लोगों के लिए तो यह पुस्तक एक अमृत-रसायन व संजीवनी है। क्योंकि यह पुस्तक स्वस्थ जीवन-शैली, आध्यात्मिक जीवन-दृष्टि एवं नियमित रूप से ध्यान के अभ्यास द्वारा स्वस्थ, सुन्दर व सुखी जीवन जीने की राह दिखाती है। निराशा, अवसाद, तनाव, कुण्ठा, चिन्ता, उद्विग्नता आदि मानसिक समस्याओं के समाधान हेतु यह एक रामबाण औषधि है। जहाँ यह पुस्तक एक ओर योग-साधकों, अध्यात्म-प्रेमियों, आत्मानुभूति, ब्रह्मानुभूति व मोक्ष के इच्छुक मुमुक्षुओं, व जिज्ञासुओं के लिए मार्गदर्शिका और पथ-प्रदर्शिका है तो वहीं दूसरी ओर शैक्षणिक जगत् से जुड़े विद्यार्थियों, शोधार्थियों व प्राध्यापकों के लिए एक प्रामाणिक टेक्स्ट बुक भी है, ग्रन्थ भी है। जो इस पुस्तक को पढ़कर अपने जीवन में नित्य ध्यान का अभ्यास करेंगे उनका चित् अपूर्व आनन्द, उल्लास और उमंग से भर जाएगा। वे एक नूतन जीवन-दृष्टि, आध्यात्मिक जीवन-दृष्टि पाकर परम आनन्द और परम सौन्दर्य के एक अज्ञात आयाम में उड़ान भरने लगेंगे।
Philosophy in this set of two volumes is a cognitive activity par excellence. Cognition is that the language expresses and it reveals intelligible objects/beings of language and the meaning to which our philosophical reflections, investigations, analysis and interpretation are not only based on but are confined to. The work is fit for satisfying the intellectual hunger of those who are sick of reading the same metaphysical, ontological, theological and epistemological descriptions in different books of history of philosophy, Indian and Western, to those searching a philosophy free from our captive thinking and also an innovative vision to meet out the new challenges in philosophy. Concentrating on cognition as it flashes by language the book analyses, discusses, interprets and critically argues most of the philosophical issues and their responses by Indian and Western philosophical traditions well conclusively.
Unlike linguistic and analytic philosophies, the book is a philosophy of language. Unlike meaning-centric philosophies popular in the East and West, the language-centric approach of the book is based on the expressive nature of language. Based on cognition as it flashes, on active theory of knowledge and action-oriented view of language and its meaning, it reflects on problems, doubts, paradoxes and queries for clarity and resolve, and on that basis, utility and future of philosophy as well.
Against philosophy as subjective and objective thinking, it is a cognitive reflection par excellence. These volumes cover the courses of philosophy prescribed in the universities and colleges useful for scholars and students and those who want a fresh perception to come up with the new challenges in philosophy.
This is an annotated English translation of Vijñānabhikṣu’s commentaries on the first five Brahmasūtra (BS) of Bādarāyaṇa called the Vijñānāmṛtabhāṣya (VijBh). This is a pioneering work as no translation of the VijBh has been done so far. Bhikṣu is perhaps the only known Vedānta scholar who has argued for Brahman along with his prakṛti-śakti being the cause of the world. He calls his Advaita philosophy as Avibhāga-Advaita and sets himself against Śaṅkara’s Advaita which argues for Brahman alone being the material and efficient cause of the world. Bhikṣu is also an unique Advaita scholar as he interprets Vedānta using Sāṁkhya/Yoga principles. One of the reasons for choosing to comment on only the first five sūtras was because the VijBh is a huge work and also because Bhikṣu’s Avibhāga-Advaita can easily be understood from his commentaries on these first five sūtras of the BS. Even though the real reason for Bhikṣu’s commentary on the fifth sūtra (BS I.1.5) should be clear to anyone familiar with Vedānta’s objection to prakṛti being the cause of the world, it needed to be seen as to how Bhikṣu, as a committed Sāṁkhya-Yoga-Vedāntācārya, defends prakṛti’s role in being the cause. Just as writing commentaries on the first four sūtras of Śaṅkara’s BSBh done by some eminent scholars present the main features of Śaṅkara’s Advaita, the commentaries on the first five sūtras of the BS by Bhikṣu could adequately present Bhikṣu’s Avibhāga-Advaita Vedānta.
Gita Govinda, a drsya-kavya of Jayadeva, a twelfth-century Sanskrit poet, due to its deep foundations in devotion and exquisite intrinsic beauty, is the most desired in the music and dance of India. This erotic poem, through its three characters in Radha, Krsna and the sakhi, portrays physical love as a metaphor for divine longing of the individual soul to have its union with the Supreme.
The volume in hand presents the primacy of the language in linguistic and literary theories as the vehicle of thought, along with the performing arts background and technical aspects of dance that complement Jayadeva’s composition. It also deals with a setting for the Gita Govinda in terms of its historical context, time, cultural influences and relevance in the arts.
It addresses each and every verse of Gita Govinda with translation and literary notes. Also, it showcases the uninterrupted text in Devanagari along with Romanized transliteration. In a nutshell, the book brings to us a magical world of dance and music through the eyes of a Sanskrit scholar and a mature, expressive dancer in Sharda Narayanan and Sujatha Mohan, respectively.
Wide in content like an encyclopaedia, it covers everything about gold right from its physical and chemical properties, uses, history, birth inside the earth, the searching methods, exploration, mining, extraction, worldwide occurrences, world production, stockpiles, trade, marketing in the past, present and future, and usage as jewellery.
Gold has made a strong inroad into the human consciousness from time immemorial and we find its presence in the Indian Puranas, the Bible, the Koran and in many a religion including Sikhism. Being in human memory from 40000 BCE, it fascinated the Egyptians in constructing sacred gold artefacts, prompted Alexander the Great for gold coinage resulting into numerous invasions, inspired the Romans to mint gold coins, made Queen Cleopatra to wear gold facial foils to enhance her charm and decoratively covered many domes palaces and place of worship, including the Golden Temple, the citadel of Sikh faith and philosophy, and thus gold has maintained the most sought-after status among all precious metals. As jewellery, it is the quintessential part of the Indian psyche. It has survived all odds and is going strong even during the present economic turmoil. The book covers everything about gold right from its physical and chemical properties, uses, history, birth inside the earth, the searching methods, exploration, mining, extraction, worldwide occurrences from continent to continent, country to country and mine to mine, world production, stockpiles, trade, marketing in the past, present and future, and usage as jewellery. Like an encyclopaedia, this book describes everything about gold. This data-rich coffee table book is the first of its kind and is a sure hit with any avid reader of exploration, mining, geology and general knowledge.
This memoir deals with the varied aspects of Mughal numismatics, be it the problem associated with Mughal coinage, Akbar’s monetary system or his religious and economic policies, providing liberal education in the history of Mughal period.
This memoir contains twenty-four scholarly articles that are remarkable in many respects. First, the author’s extremely accurate knowledge of the Persian historians of India and that of the European travellers has enabled him to bring together a series of studies into this volume, which is an exhaustive list of all references bearing upon Mughal coinage. Second, it addresses all the problems related to Mughal coinage thereby putting to rest half of the controversies that have engaged numismatists during the past a half century. Third, it sheds light on Akbar’s monetary system and religious outlook, while providing liberal education in the history of Mughal period. The historian and the student of economics should find stores of valuable material in this memoir.
The experiences and knowledge from our past are recorded in manuscripts which have been handed down to us over several thousand years. The Government of India, through the Department of Culture, took note of the importance of this vast tangible heritage and, in order to preserve and conserve as well as to make access to this wealth easy, established the National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM). In order to disseminate the knowledge content of manuscripts, the Mission has taken up several programmes such as lectures, seminars and workshops. The Mission has published the proceedings of the above-said programmes under the following series: “Samiksika” (on conservation), “Tattvabodha” (comprising lectures based on manuscripts delivered by eminent scholars), “Samiksika” (research-oriented papers presented in the seminars), “Krtibodha” (transcribed and edited texts prepared at advanced level manuscriptology workshops conducted by NMM) and “Prakasika” (publication of rare, unpublished manuscripts). The present work, Samiksika-16 comprises the proceedings of the conference on History and Development of Mathematics held in the Samskrita Academy, Chennai in collaboration with the National Mission for Manuscripts.
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