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Lost Shangri La...
Lost Shangri La
Glimpses of Ancient Kashmir by: S. SapruThe book unravels the glorious past of Kashmir, discussing its importance as the centre of Sanskrit learning in the bygone eras. It highlights the regions achievements in music, dance, drama, sculpture, language and literature, and philosophy marked by the artistic and literary contributions of Jayaditta, Bhatta, Jayadhara, Pingala and Abhinavagupta, and many others.
$20.00
ISBN: 9788186921173
Year Of Publication: 2001
Edition: 1st
Pages : x, 174
Bibliographic Details : Bibliography, Index
Language : English
Binding : Paperback
Publisher: Decent Books
Size: 22 cm.
Weight: 300
The Land of Kashmir, celebrated as paradise on earth for its scenic beauty, has an equally enchanting historical and cultural past: this is the place symbolising Indias cultural unity, where different cultures have prospered at different times, where scholars from all over India and the distant lands of Mesopotamia, Persia and China converged to imbibe learning in ancient times. The author, S. Sapru here unravels the glorious past of Kashmir; he discusses its importance as the centre of Sanskrit learning in the bygone eras; its achievements in music, dance, drama, sculpture, language and literature, and philosophy marked by the artistic and literary contributions of eminent men like Jayaditta, Bhatta, Jayadhara, Pingala and Abhinavagupta. Referring to various historical works and combining facts with legend, folklore and impressions from oral traditions, he presents a graphic picture of life and times in the valley in the past that deals with a range of themes like the lands mythology, statecraft, trade links, urban centres, tax system, system of crime and punishment and an ancient tourists impressions of the valley. Through a smooth?flowing narrative that makes the book extremely readable, the author points out that there is more to Kashmir than the present?day spate of violence; the land and its people have an essential Indianness common to other people of India and Kashmirs links with the rest of India cannot be severed.
Foreword
Preface
1. The Killing Fields of Kashmir
2. Beauty and Violence
3. Looking Closely at the Head
4. A Seat of Ancient Learning
5. Where did the Kashmiris Come From ?
6. A Symbol of Indias Cultural Unity
7. Centres of Excellence
8. Their Literary and Artistic Achievements
9. Aesthetics — The Fragrance of Life
10. Folklore is the Spice of Life
11. Manmadhans Arrows dont Spare Even Kings
12. Will Manmadhan Fail ?
13. Fine Arts Need no Frontiers
14. If Music be the Food of Love, Then Play on
15. A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
16. Etched in Stone, they sing silently
17. The Arrow that Boomeranged
18. A Wedding at Mount Kailash
19. Narada — Scribe Extraordinary
20. Rationalising the Rituals
21. The Thread that Joins us Together
22. Celebrating What, When and Why?
23. Valley and the Empire
24. Is Civilisation Only Urban?
25. An Anciet Tourists Impressions
26. Enter the Dragon
27. Trust in God, She will Provide
28. The Nuts and Bolts of Statecraft
29. Timeless Wonders, our Villages
30. Manning the Ramparts
31. The Curse of Taxes
32. Whose Money is it Anyway?
33. Trade Links Across the World
34. Crime, Justice and Punishment
35. The Generation Gap (Indian Style)
36. Kashmir Shaivism and the Southern Link
37. Spreading the Buddhas Gospel : The India-China Link
Bibliography
Index
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Ramayana Culture $32.00
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.
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Celebrating Life with Yoga $20.00
This volume addresses the wisdom of yoga with a practical approach. While many people think of yoga simply as a series of postures and breathing exercises, which is only a part of the vast yoga wisdom, it unveils yoga in its true sense. Yoga is not meant for doing, but for being; being in our real nature, being in complete communion with the Supreme Consciousness, i.e. Truth, Bliss and Consciousness.
Yoga helps one to discover oneself who am I? And the moment we know who we really are, every moment of life becomes a celebration. Yoga is thus the key to celebrating the life festival. Giving an introduction to the origin, history, traditions and different paths and aspects of yoga, the book authoritatively answers the basic questions: how can we apply yoga in our personal, family and social life?, what are the causes of suffering?, how can we live a stress-free and blissful life? and how can we attain the supreme goal of life, i.e. Self-realization, God-realization?
As the book is designed to conform to the course contents of yogic science of Indian universities, it will be of great use to students, academicians and yoga aspirants alike. -
Reflections on Indian Thought $34.00
This anthology, consisting of fourteen essays, deals with a variety of themes that are of central importance for an authentic appreciation of the philosophical core of the Indian culture. The readers will find here illuminating discussions on various issues that bear witness to the critical thinking and deep reflection on the part of the author that have enabled her to carefully expose the subtle internal divergences that nourish the Indian conceptual world.
Based on arduous and painstaking research, these essays focus on a range of topics. There are several essays on multiple aspects of the large themes of time and consciousness, penetrating analysis showing how in the ancient discourse ideas of klesha (affliction), abhyasa (practice) and karuna (compassion) as well as on women and values are dealt with. There are also deliberations on the themes of religious diversity and the need for an encounter of world religions along with the attempt to explore India’s self-image. All these have contemporary relevance, as these essays clearly bring out the distinctive character of a living culture. -
India and South-East Asia $103.00
The South-East is a cultural perspective aptly named agneyi the direction of the God Agni. It is reflected even in the Sino-Japanese Mahakarunagarbha mandala of the 8th century where Agni is surrounded by sages: Angiras with his consort Gautami and Atreya with his consort Bhrgvi. In the Pao-hsiang Lou pantheon Agni is surrounded by eight rsi’s Angiras, Vasistha, Garga, Markandeya, Gautama, Kasyapa, Shan-ch’eng-ming-yang and Su-chi-i (the Sanskrit names of the last two have to yet to be found). In Indic terms, the conceptual space of SE Asia endows it with the serenity of the mind, the grandeur of structures, the profundity of expression derived from Sanskrit. The SE is the mind ground of the sages, the rishis, and as such the marvellous manifestation of the Hindu-Buddhist genius. This book chronicles the dynamism, the fire, the Agni of the Agneya (SE) direction across the past that shades into the present with tomorrows inside.
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The crisis of the age inheres in this, that notwithstanding the century’s mind-numbing disasters, it persists in subscribing to propositions which have logically led to the atomization of the whole cloth of human experiencing, and being. Great indeed is the value which is placed on the procedure of analytic dismemberment. While the method has certainly been result-producing, materially, in its wake it has brought immense suffering – both physical and spiritual. The price paid for a lopsided advance is thirty major wars – with their toll of one hundred and thirty million lives, and the irreparable destruction of the natural environment. The time demands a reappraisal of the basic paradigms of human existence, but the hegemony of well-entrenched vested interests – material or intellectual – would seem to preclude this.
The “advanced” people among the mankind of the day become suicidally specialized. For, if the mechanical model of thought has been of advantage in man’s preceding unfolding, the same, what may be called the “survival” paradigm, now creates dangerous dualities, binary oppositions (you–me, body–mind, East–West, etc). The model has outlived its usefulness merely enforcing dormancy on a major part of the human brain.
It behoves mankind to choose wisely right now – since parallel to the socio-economic, scientific and technological revolutions there has got to be the overdue radical psychic transformation. The first step towards clearing the fateful crisis would therefore be to be aware and end the hold of the linear, causal, mechanical thought orientation over the intellectual culture of the times.
Delving deep into the epistemological cum ontological causation of the emergency confronting the being and becoming of man, this volume provokes the thoughtful lay reader to a serious engagement with his or her self.
