none

SANGAM: The Jhansi Legacy, captures the struggles of exiled peoples of the Indian subcontinent in the Caribbean known hitherto as "indentured coolies" but who are revealed in the novel as representative classes of Indians of differing socio-economic backgrounds who had created a strong opposition to British rule of the Indian subcontinent. It is a moving story that captures the struggles of these people in the hostile environment of sugar plantations where injustice, lack of decency, and oppression of the worst kind prevailed. At first, there seemed little that could be done to alleviate the plight of the indentured, that were no better off than that of the earlier slaves whom they had replaced as a result of the abolition of slavery. Until the arrival of the protagonists Mataji and her son, Raju, both scions of the legendary rebellious Queen, the Rani of Jhansi, the blight situation of the indentured seemed hopeless. Indeed, Mataji was one of the Rani's lieutenants during The Indian War of Independence and with her son beside her and their combined commanding presence and ability to win friends as well as get the respect of others, ideas of freedom coalesced to form definite plans to rectify the situation. The first was to take the war that had started in India to the sugar plantocracy in the Caribbean to win back their rights and freedoms. And, by enlisting new-found friends among the French Creoles and sympathetic sugar barons they were quickly able to organize the indentured people into one cohesive community from where they could claim their place in the New World as partners in a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-religious, and multi-linguistic society, cemented together by the underlying Hindu philosophy known to the world as Vedanta.

2084 bce: In the great city of Mohenjodaro, along the banks of the Indus, a young man named Prkaa becomes increasingly mistrustful of the growing authority of a cult of priests. 455 ce: In the fabled university city of Takshasilla, Buddhamitra, a monk, is distressed by how his colleagues seem to have lost sight of the essence of the Buddha's message of compassion. 1620 ce: During the reign of the Mughal emperor Jahangir, a pair of itinerant fortune seekers endeavour to swindle the patrician elite, only to find themselves utterly disillusioned. 1857 ce: Mir Sahib, a wandering minstrel, traverses the realms of human deception even as a rebellion against the British Raj is advancing across India. 2009 ce: In contemporary Lahore, the widow Rafiya Begum navigates legal complexities in order to secure her rights and fend off predatory charlatans. 2084 ce: A scholar revisits the known history of the cataclysmic events that led to world domination by ruthless international water conglomerates. Across epochs and civilizations, these are intensely personal journeys that investigate the legitimacy of religion and authority, and chronicle the ascent of dissent. Snuffing Out the Moon is a dazzling debut novel that is at once a cry for freedom and a call for resistance.

Masterfully evoking the breathtaking beauty of India, Amin's lyrical debut novel follows a young boy whose life takes an unexpected turn when he is sent to live with a reclusive but renowned musician.

This volume featrues over 250,000 words and more than 125 photographs identifying and defining theatre in more than 30 countries from India to Uzbekistan, from Thailand to New Zealand and featuring extensive documentation on contemporary Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Australian theatre.

.....

This book provides valuable insight on the history of India from ancient times to 1600 CE for Indians and non-Indians, and for the Indian Diaspora, which is estimated to be over 25 million, spreading across no less than 110 countries. The chapters cover many important aspects of history, from the ancient urban culture of the Indus Valley Civilization; Vedic Age's lasting legacy, Hinduism associated with the two great epics, the Ramayana and Mahabharata; and the founding of Buddhism and Jainism; to the Muslim conquests and the resultant Indo-Islamic and Mughal heritage. Indian influence travelled beyond its shores to Southeast Asia, China, Korea and Japan. The Angkor Wat, Borobudur and Prambanan temples reflect the cultural impact of the early Indian Diaspora. The famous Chinese monk Xuanzang who journeyed to Nalanda to study at that great University wrote extensively about India. This book will kindle interest in research on tracing the origins of the Indian Diaspora and the ancient ties that linked India to the rest of the world.

An examination of the sacred botany and the pagan origins and rituals of Christmas • Analyzes the symbolism of the many plants associated with Christmas • Reveals the shamanic rituals that are at the heart of the Christmas celebration The day on which many commemorate the birth of Christ has its origins in pagan rituals that center on tree worship, agriculture, magic, and social exchange. But Christmas is no ordinary folk observance. It is an evolving feast that over the centuries has absorbed elements from cultures all over the world--practices that give plants and plant spirits pride of place. In fact, the symbolic use of plants at Christmas effectively transforms the modern-day living room into a place of shamanic ritual. Christian Rätsch and Claudia Müller-Ebeling show how the ancient meaning of the botanical elements of Christmas provides a unique view of the religion that existed in Europe before the introduction of Christianity. The fir tree was originally revered as the sacred World Tree in northern Europe. When the church was unable to drive the tree cult out of people’s consciousness, it incorporated the fir tree by dedicating it to the Christ child. Father Christmas in his red-and-white suit, who flies through the sky in a sleigh drawn by reindeer, has his mythological roots in the shamanic reindeer-herding tribes of arctic Europe and Siberia. These northern shamans used the hallucinogenic fly agaric mushroom, which is red and white, to make their soul flights to the other world. Apples, which figure heavily in Christmas baking, are symbols of the sun god Apollo, so they find a natural place at winter solstice celebrations of the return of the sun. In fact, the authors contend that the emphasis of Christmas on green plants and the promise of the return of life in the dead of winter is just an adaptation of the pagan winter solstice celebration.

A supplement to Frazer's The Golden Bough, this 1936 work remains an important text for scholars of religion and anthropology.