-
Celestial Nagasvaram...
Celestial Nagasvaram
Origin, Myths, Reception and the Maestros by: Geetha RajagopalThis book makes an in-depth study of the history of evolution, penetration and growth of nagasvaram into the cultural moorings of south India. It makes a systematic study of nagasvaram from different perspectives, its accompanying instruments, its relevance in temple festivals, marriages, the traditions associated, its prevalence and acceptability among south Indian states. It also introduces the all-time great maestros of nagasvaram.
₹1,080.00
ISBN: 9788192702124
Year Of Publication: 2015
Edition: 1st Edition
Pages : xx, 195p.
Bibliographic Details : 72 colour photographs; Bibliography; Index
Language : English
Binding : Hardcover
Publisher: Avi Publishers
Size: 25 cm.
Weight: 750 gm.
Nagasvaram, worlds loudest non-brass acoustic instrument, is known as mangala vadyam (auspicious instrument), and raja vadyam (king of all instruments). This popular wind-group musical instrument is well known all over the south Indian states, more specifically in Tamil Nadu. Its origin is associated with the Thiruvarur Temple and its legacy continued all through the Pallavas, Colas, Pandyas, Nayakas, and Marathas. It has imprinted its sheen on all the rituals, especially, on the temple festivals and marriages.
This book makes an in-depth study of the history of evolution, penetration and growth of nagasvaram into the cultural moorings of south India over a period of 800 years. It makes a systematic study of nagasvaram (myths associated with it, its making, types, etc.), its accompanying instruments, its relevance in temple festivals, marriages, the traditions associated with nagasvaram, its prevalence and acceptability in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala, in addition to Tamil Nadu where it rules the roost. It widely introduces the great maestros of nagasvaram, for whom it was a nishkama karma.
Kings, temples and mathas were the promoters of this blissful instrument. At present this artform faces severe challenges from the all-pervasive Western musical instruments. The author suggests ways and means of how to maintain the legacy of nagasvaram live, and the need to preserve the rich heritage of our musical tradition for the benefit of our posterity to realize the Supreme Bliss in their life.
This book, rare of its kind, will enthrall those who are keen on instrumental music, especially the faculty, students, and professionals in the field of music, religion and art.
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgement
List of Figures
Introduction : Music is a Form of Worship
1. Nagasvaram : A Brief History
2. Accompanying Instruments
3. Temple Festivals and Nagasvaram Traditions
4. Nagasvaram in Other South Indian States
5. Great Nagasvaram Maestros
Conclusion
Bibliography
Visuals
Index
-
Sale!Ramayana Culture ₹720.00
These essays, originally presented at an international conference, are in the forefront of the modern response to an ancient work that has gained a new critical and social relevance in contemporary scholarship. Approaching the Ramayana from several angles in an attempt to understand its aesthetic and ideological meaning, they examine the epic through the perspectives of textual criticism, art, architecture and film. Thereby they address critical issues such as the seminal status of Valmiki, the underlying problem of canonicity itself, the importance of other — so-called derivative — Ramayanas, the implications of gender representation, and the cultural manipulation of social ideals relating to the position of women and the idealisation of love that achieves its highest value in marriage. Using the methods of rigorous textual and historical investigation, each essay seeks not only to uncover the layers of meaning in the complex structure of the epic in its varied forms but also to situate it critically in the cultures of South and Southeast Asia.
-
Sale!Mutual Regards ₹2,610.00
This is an anthology of parallel texts from the Irish and Indian intellectual traditions ranging over what scholars have said about the two countries histories of turmoil, their philosophies of mind and being, their myths and fantasies, their contemplative imagination as expressed in their lyrical poetry, their learning in medicine, history, linguistics and poetics, the records left about them by Irishmen who came to India and by Indians who went to Ireland, and the contemporary engagements between the two countries.
The volume shows that, despite major differences between the two countries, contacts and similarities between them have been substantial. The recorded testimonies of Irish people and Indians who have visited the respective countries demonstrate that in both cases the experience has been a warm and encouraging one, which has led the visitor to become more aware of what is meant by nationality, what he or she has acquired from his or her country of origin and what he or she has gained by contact with another society and another culture. That the two appear to share the same spirit of the self is attested by the fact that they both end up in the twentieth century, by coincidence or destiny, with the symbolism in their flags of the same three colours orange, white, and green. -
Sale!Affinities ₹810.00
This volume is comprised of the proceedings of an international conference on IndiaKorea Relations: Past and Present, dealing with India’s relationship with Korea since ce 48. While Buddhism was the amblical cord of Indian relationship with Korea in the first millennium, the end of Cold War has helped to scale up their relations to a new league. Complimenting their bilateral relationship are the Look East Policy of India and the New Asia Initiative of Korea.
These economic giants of Asia have many things in common to share, give and take in the post-colonial era. The rag to richess story of the miracle on the Han River gives impetus to India’s surge in the economic front. From a hermit-kingdom image, Korea now stands tall among the Asian countries with its rapid socio-economic progress and a per capita income of US $ 22,000. Its advancements in education, science and technology, and defence deserve kudos.
The book thus delves deep into all aspects of bilateral relationship commercial, cultural, economic, educational, historic, language and literature, political, science and technology, and trade. Both the countries have experienced drastic economic progress, increase in trade volumes, Korean corporates investing in India vis- -vis Indian companies in Korea. A target-trading volume of US $ 40 billion by the year 2015 tells a vibrant story. Also, both are committed in making Asia the most happening region.
The book provides a graphic account of all these developments, shedding light on India’s low per capita income of US $ 1,219 and suggesting to put her acts together, to lead Asia from the front. -
Sale!Vada in Theory and Practice ₹1,170.00
Vada, meaning debates, dialogues, discussions, was the quintessential of Indian spirit, enabling and promoting the growth of different philosophical and knowledge systems of India. It percolated deep into our mindset and enriched the moral, ethical, religious and sociocultural edifice of anything that was essentially Indian in nature. As continuation of Anvikshiki from the bc era, vada helped thrive Indian traditional knowledge systems. It subsists on diversity and its tradition envisages pluralism.
Most of our Sanskrit works, covering a wide gamut of knowledge systems, are structured in the techniques of debate. This reality applies not only to the philosophical writings, but to Indian medical systems (Ayurveda), Arthashastra of Kautilya and Kamasutra of Vatsyayana as well. Even great epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata are no exceptions.
Vada culture involved verbal duals, attacks and even violence of speech, and all major religious systems — old or modern — were parties to it. This book also elucidates how vata was vital and critical for the growth of our socio-political fabrics. It shows how some of the major conflicts in philosophical systems were centred around karma, jnana, choice between violence and non-violence, pravritti and nivritti. It also presents the manifestations of vada on a vast canvas during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Modern spiritual and religious gurus like Ramana Maharshi, J. Krishnamurti and Vinoba Bhave were men of dialogues. Our scholars have applied the varied techniques of vada against the philosophical and scientific systems of the West to prove them correct.
This collector’s issue should enthrall a wide audience of philosophers, scholars and believers in Indian knowledge systems. -
Sale!Aesthetic Textures ₹1,620.00
The fascinating world of multiple Bharatas that this book introduces its readers with is that of a perennial tale discovered and created afresh at each juncture of time; at each moment of self-doubt and self-exploration; at each rejoicing of self-discovery and self-recovery. If one does not come across a seamless continuity here, one does not encounter apparent ruptures either. The Bharatas, as narrated here, present us with amazing diversity with palpable consubstantiality expressed in myriad forms and multiple hues; tradition belonging as much to its contemporaneity as to its past; belonging as much to the spokes as to the axle; centrifugal and centripetal at once; a tradition old and new at the same moment of time.
The book is based on the proceedings of a seven-day international conference organized by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) on the living traditions of the Mahabharata in the year 2011. The conference explored the multiple tellings and retellings of the Mahabharata story as sung, danced, and celebrated in festivals, inscribed on to geographic landscapes, committed to memory as sacred genealogy, embodied in rituals, and sculpted in shrines and temples. The presentations ranged from issues of poetics and ethics to translations, adaptations, and variations to folk and tribal traditions as sung, recited, and performed. Rather than exploring the Mahabharata as a book or a singular narrative, these papers focus on the multi-tradition of the Mahabharata in all its multidimensionality, multiplicity, and above all, in its fluidity. The book would certainly interest the scholars engaged in the study of the living heritage of Indian epics, folklorists, indologists, and anthropologists.
