Breaking Boundaries with the Goddess: New Directions in the Study of Saktism

Breaking Boundaries with the Goddess: New Directions in the Study of Saktism

Essays in Honour of Narendra Nath Bhattacharyya

By- Cynthia Ann Humes and Rachel Fell McDermott (eds.)

Breaking Boundaries with the Goddess draws together twelve Sakta interpreters from North America, Europe, and India to discuss the present state and future challenges of Studies of the South Asian Goddess. They focus on Sanskrit, Tamil, Bengali, and tribal languages, and they cover geographic areas from the north to the south of the subcontinent and beyond, including Tibet, and even parts of Central Asia that were once under Kusana rule. Their sources are wide-ranging: they investigate archaeological finds from the Indus Valley, sculptures recovered in robbers’ hordes in eastern India, and  sites excavated by the Russians near Afghanistan. They read texts, including Vedas, Agamas, epics, Puranas, Tantras, medieval ritual digests, and glorifications; examine rituals, art, and social attitudes; and their fieldwork takes them to meet tribal Khonds, Gonds, Oraons, and Nagas, Bengali Tantric practitioners, and temple priests and devotees. Numerous goddesses find their way into the pages of this volume: the Vedic Viraj, Laksmi, Sita, Durga Mahisamardini, Kali, Korravi, tribal goddesses such as Tari Penu and Anna Kuari, the ten Mahavidyas, Jagaddhatri, various yaksinis, Vindhyavasini, and even goddesses whose names cannot be deciphered with our present knowledge. All of the contributors write in honor of the late Professor Narendra Nath Bhattacharyya (1934-2001), the Bengali master interpreter of Saktism, who mentored many of them and influenced the field tremendously, with his insistence that the study of ritual or text not to be divorced from a consideration of social institutions, particularly those derived from tribal culture, and his belief that the importance of women as ritual actors and purveyors of tradition not to be forgotten.

Cynthia Ann Humes is Chief Technology Officer and Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Claremont McKenna College. In addition to north Indian goddess worship, her research today focuses on the phenomenon of the guru and Western meditative practice.

Rachel Fell McDermott is Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Cultures, Barnard College, Columbia University.

ISBN  978-81-7304-760-2    2009   420p.   Rs.995/ Pounds 60
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Being Indian, Being Israeli: Migration, Ethnicity and Gender in the Jewish Homeland

Being Indian, Being Israeli: Migration, Ethnicity and Gender in the Jewish Homeland


By- Maina Chawla Singh

The story of the Jews of India has often been told by historians, anthropologists and sometimes by Indian Jews themselves recounting their family histories in India, the land of their birth over many generations. We know that Indian Jewish communities: the Bene Israelis in Bombay, Poona, Ahmedabad and Jabalpur, the Baghdadis in Calcutta and Bombay and the Kerala Jews in Cochin, Parur or Chendamangalam lived peacefully in pluralistic neighbourhoods experiencing no anti-semitism. However, when Israel was established, thousands of Indian Jews were inspired and like their cousins from other parts of the globe, migrated to the Jewish Homeland. Yet, today 60 years since the first Jewish families made ‘aliya’ and migrated to Israel (1949), little is known about this community of 70,000 Indian Jews scattered across Israel.
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This book, for the first time, presents a deeply researched analysis of all three Jewish communities from India, studying them holistically as ‘Indian-Israelis’ with shared histories of migration, acculturation and identity in the Jewish Homeland. Based on extensive fieldwork and ethnographic research conducted among Indian Jews across Israel between 2005-8, the book reflects the author’s deep engagement and familiarity with Israeli society and the complexities of ethnicity and class that underlie the cleavages within Israeli Jewish society. The volume vividly captures the immigrant experiences of first-generation Indian Jewish men and women. The tapestry of these narratives and lived experiences is skilfully woven into theoretical insights illustrating how ethnicity, gender and class intersect with ‘Jewish-ness’ to create complex identities of ‘Being Indian’ and ‘Being Israeli’.
The author’s deep engagement with the Indian-Israeli community and her accessible style enrich this book for readers across a wide range of interests.

Maina Chawla Singh teaches at the University of Delhi. Her previous research has focused on gender and cross-cultural missionary work in colonial India. In 2008-9, Singh was Hadassah-Brandeis Scholar and Schusterman Fellow, Brandeis University. Currently, Singh is affiliated to American University, Washington DC.

ISBN 978-81-7304-839-5 2009 258p. Rs.645/ Pounds 45

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Agriculture and Food In India: A Half-Century Review, from Independence to Globalization

Agriculture and Food In India: A Half-Century Review, from Independence to Globalization 

By- Bruno Dorin and Frederic Landy  

More than a fifth of the world’s farmers live in India, which has over a billion inhabitants to support and feed. From Independence in 1947 to the lifting of trade barriers in 2001, this book explains how the Indian Union has succeeded in becoming one of the world’s leading food producers, but also why it is still a land of poverty. 

The various aspects of the question are addressed, from the environment (cultural and natural, local and international) to institutions and food products. The ins and outs of the green revolution are obviously discussed, but so are those of other less familiar coloured revolutions (white for dairy, yellow for vegetable oils, blue for agriculture), not forgetting horticultural and poultry dynamics, as well as products that give India its flavour (spices, tea and other plantation crops). Three core issues are debated at the end: the unsolved problem of poverty and under-nutrition, the worrying deterioration of natural resources, and the recent economic liberalization. 

This half-century review, which takes the form of a handbook for a broad readership, enlightens us on both the past and future paths of the world’s biggest democracy.   

Bruno Dorin, Ph.D in economics and postgraduate in agricultural engineering as well as management, is now a CIRAD researcher (Montpellier, France). 

Frederic Landy is a professor of geography at the University of Paris X-Nanterre (GECKO laboratory), a fellow of the Institute Universitaire de France and an associate researcher with the Centre d’Etudes de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud (CNRS-EHESS).    


ISBN  978-81-7304-812-8    2009   280p.   Rs.695/ Pounds 40

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Water Resource Management: Riparian Conflicts, Feudal Chiefs and Hyderabad State (1901-1956)

Water Resource Management: Riparian Conflicts, Feudal Chiefs and Hyderabad State (1901-1956)

By- Y. Vaikuntham

Hyderabad state, before the Independence of India, covering an area of 82,698 sq. miles, with 16 districts was an extensive plateau with an average elevation of about 1,250 feet above sea level. It was divided between two equally great trappean regions, corresponding to the geological and ethnological aspects of the state, which divided the region, viz., the Godavari and Manjira, separating as they do the Maratha race from the Telugu and Kanarese people of the south, the region of trappean rocks of the north and west from the granite and limestone region of the south and east; and the land of wheat and cotton from the land of rice and tanks.

Natural resources like water, forests and minerals were in plenty. The local communities and the administration of the Nizam played a significant role in the use of these resources to strengthen ecological and social conditions. Though water is a renewable resource, the demands of a growing population and the increasing needs of agriculture, industry and urban society requires a scientific and organized management of the waters.

The very timely and critical study looks at the management of the vast water resources under the Nizam in the first half of the twentieth century and draws lessons from it that present-day policy makers can ill ignore. This volume is invaluable for scholars working on modern history, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, colonial history, water resources, environment and ecology.

Yallampalli Vaikuntham is a former Professor of History and a former Vice-Chancellor of Kakatiya University, Warangal. He served as a Member of the Committee of Eminent Persons on Sethu Samudram Ship Channel Project appointed by the President of India.

ISBN  978-81-7304-834-0    2010   286p.   Rs.745/ Pounds 45

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The Master and the Disciple: Interactions between Gandhi and Nehru and their Impact on Modern Indian History

The Master and the Disciple: Interactions between Gandhi and Nehru and their Impact on Modern Indian History

By- Sangita Mallik (ed. & Intro.)

While it is generally known that Mahatma Gandhi had great affection for Jawaharlal Nehru and that this was one of the most important factors in the latter succeeding him as the leading figure in the Indian National Congress and becoming the Prime Minister of India, it is seldom realized that the relationship between the two was one of the most determining factors in the history of the Congress and consequently in that of modern India, both before and after the achievement of Independence. To bring all this into focus has been the main objective of this work.

Part one of the book consists of the texts of letters exchanged between Gandhi and Nehru and part two shows the impact of the Gandhi-Nehru relationship on the history of the Indian National Congress. Some of the moving writings of Nehru on Gandhi after the latter’s passing away, showing Nehru’s deep attachment to the Master, follow. The Introduction not only sums up the materials in two parts, but also discusses the impact of the Gandhi-Nehru relationship on the history of India during the Nehru Era. The book will be of tremendous interest to the general public as well as to scholars of modern Indian history in general and of Gandhi and Nehru in particular.

Sangita Mallik holds a M. Phil from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi (1983). She worked for several years as Research Officer at the Nehru Memorial Museum & Library, New Delhi on the Project Selected Works of Jayaprakash Narayan with Prof. Bismal Prasad as Editor. She has had long innings as Research Officer at the Rajendra Prasad Academy and has been working as the Deputy Director there since 2008.

ISBN  978-81-7304-896-8    2010   164p.   Rs.495/ Pounds 35

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The Great Platform at Vijayanagara: Architecture and Sculpture

The Great Platform at Vijayanagara: Architecture and Sculpture

By- Anna L. Dallapiccola

The Great Platform at Vijayanagara (Hampi) in Karnataka, popularly known as the Mahanavami Dibba, dominates the walled enclosures of the Royal Centre at the core of the ruins of the celebrated Hindu capital. The monument was constructed in successive phases during the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. It rises in pyramidal fashion in three superimposed granite tiers, and is fronted by green chloritic panels on its western face. Nothing remains of the columned hall that crowned the summit of the Great Platform, presumably fashioned of wood. The sides, however, preserve an extensive series of relief carvings. These illustrate a broad range of topics: royal figures receiving guests, enjoying entertainments and hunting expeditions; celebrations of the Vasantotsava spring festival with courtly women squirting each other with water; parades of royal horses, elephants and even camels, accompanied by riders and attendants; courtly female dancers and musicians as well as forest female huntresses; Central Asian guards, animal grooms and dancers and musicians.

While the unique features of the Great Platform have to some extent been recognized by scholars, this volume presents the first comprehensive description of its architectural features and sculptural imagery. Anna L. Dallapicolla’s account of the monument, which is in the nature of a complete catalogue, is divided systematically into sections that accord with the successive phases of construction. In addition to analyzing the diverse themes of the carvings, Dallapiccola highlights the stylistic characteristics of the different phases of the sculptures, drawing particular attention to the profuse depictions of foreigners, notably the Central Asian Turks who at one time must have formed part of the inner coteries of the Vijayanagara court. These descriptions are illustrated by almost 100 photographs. George Michell contributes a chapter on the architectural features of the monument. This is accompanied by annotated measure drawings showing elevations and details.

Anna L. Dallapiccola is former Professor of Indian Art History at the University of Heidelberg; she is now an Honorary Professor at Edinburgh University.

ISBN  978-81-7304-858-6    2010   168p.   Rs.995/ Pounds 55

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From Fire Rain to Rebellion: Reasserting Ethnic Identity Through Narrative

From Fire Rain to Rebellion: Reasserting Ethnic Identity Through Narrative

By- Peter B. Andersen, Marine Carrin and Santosh K. Soren (eds. and trs.)

The Santals, a major tribal group of India, are known for their Hul, an important rebellion led by charismatic heroes in 1855-7, and analysed by subaltern historians as conveying political and intellectual concerns, such as peasant consciousness, pertinent to post-colonial India. After the rebellion, Christian missions were established in the Santal Parganas, among them, the Scandinavian Lutheran missionaries considered the Santals as a nation and wanted to create a Santal National Church, and their presence contributed to reinforce Santal identity. This volume presents selections from Rev. P.O. Bodding’s collection of Santal folklore—three thousand pages now found in the Oslo University Library—which he collected from 1892 to around 1927. The editors have selected narratives—mythological and historical—which Bodding left unpublished.

The introduction of writing allowed another texture of knowledge to emerge from the colonial encounter, expressing itself through these narratives. Bodding’s collections were done by Santals whom he trained, but at least one of them, Sagram Murmu merits consideration as an author in his own right. The choice of texts presented here shows us how the Santals recast their traditions as knowledge, as a body of institutions and laws, and as a way of life. These texts contribute to inform how marginalized people, such as the Santals, experienced colonial modernity but succeeded in negotiating for themselves the potential of national de-colonization. The book aims at documenting subaltern pasts, allowing their re-appropriation by the Santal themselves.

Peter B. Andersen is Associate Professor at the Department for Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies at the University of Copenhagen. His research area is religion and modernity. In India he has studied the transformation from oral to printed transmission of culture among the Santals.

Marine Carrin is Director of Research, CNRS at the LISST, Centre of Anthropology, Toulouse, France. She has worked for many years on the Santals and is currently working on the bhuta cults and other aspects of religion and society in South Canara, India.

Santosh Kumar Soren is a retired librarian from Roskilde University Library. He received his education in India and Denmark.

ISBN  978-81-7304-879-1    2011   400p.   Rs.995/ pounds 55

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