Exploring medieval manuscripts, Gandhi's writings, and performances in multiple religious and non-religious contexts, Narasinha Mehta of Gujarat demonstrates how over five centuries, performers and audiences of devotional songs and hagiographic narratives associated with the saint-poet Narasinha Mehta have sculpted them into popular sources of moral inspiration. Taking Gandhi's use of these works in his social reconstruction programs as an example, the book suggests that when religious forms such as songs and hagiographies of saint-poets of South Asia acquire dimensions of popular culture, they offer a platform for communication among diverse groups. An illuminating study that provides a vivid picture of the Narasinha tradition, Narasinha Mehta of Gujarat will be a crucial resource for anyone seeking to understand the power of religious performative traditions in popular media.

The kingdom of Patan is under attack from the army of Avanti. People have fled their villages to seek refuge in the city. Amidst the mounting panic, the arrival of Kaak, a young warrior from Laat, sets in motion a frantic chain of events. The Lord and Master of Gujarat is set four years after The Glory of Patan, and unfolds at dizzying speed, abounding in conspiracies, heroism and romance. From the spectacular rise of Siddhraj Jaysinh to the intrigues surrounding the consolidation of Gujarat, from the growing romance between Kaak and Manjari to the escalating tension between Munjal Mehta and Kirtidev over the future of the kingdom, this is an epic novel in the grand tradition of Alexandre Dumas. Arguably K.M. Munshi's best-known work, it deftly weaves state politics and battles with personal trials and tribulations into one glorious tapestry.

A Major Activity Of The Sahitya Akademi Is The Preparation Of An Encyclopaedia Of Indian Literature. The Venture, Covering Twenty-Two Languages Of India, Is The First Of Its Kind. Written In English, The Encyclopaedia Gives A Comprehensive Idea Of The Growth And Development Of Indian Literature. The Entries On Authors, Books And General Topics Have Been Tabulated By The Concerned Advisory Boards And Finalised By A Steering Committee. Hundreds Of Writers All Over The Country Contributed Articles On Various Topics. The Encyclopaedia, Planned As A Six-Volume Project, Has Been Brought Out. The Sahitya Akademi Embarked Upon This Project In Right Earnest In 1984. The Efforts Of The Highly Skilled And Professional Editorial Staff Started Showing Results And The First Volume Was Brought Out In 1987. The Second Volume Was Brought Out In 1988, The Third In 1989, The Fourth In 1991, The Fifth In 1992, And The Sixth Volume In 1994. All The Six Volumes Together Include Approximately 7500 Entries On Various Topics, Literary Trends And Movements, Eminent Authors And Significant Works. The First Three Volume Were Edited By Prof. Amaresh Datta, Fourth And Fifth Volume By Mohan Lal And Sixth Volume By Shri K.C.Dutt.

In the grip of lust, Raja Karan Vaghela abducts the beautiful Roopsundari, his prime minister Madhav’s wife. Fuelled by a desire for revenge, Madhav escapes to Delhi and persuades Sultan Alauddin Khilji to invade Gujarat and destroy Patan fort. This unleashes a dramatic chain of events that forever ends Rajput rule in Gujarat, heralding the dawn of a new age. Rich in psychological insight and imbued with a poetic vision, Karan Ghelo tells the spellbinding tale of a man who tragically failed his land and its people.

A Probing Look Beyond Hindutva To Get To The Heart Of Gujarat. Many Aspects Of Modern Gujarati Society And Polity Appear Puzzling. A Society Which For Centuries Absorbed Diverse People Today Appears Insular And Parochial, And While It Is One Of The Most Prosperous States In India, A Quarter Of Its Population Lives Below The Poverty Line. Drawing On Academic And Scholarly Sources, Autobiographies, Letters, Literature And Folksongs, Achyut Yagnik And Suchitra Sheth Attempt To Understand And Explain These Paradoxes. They Trace The History Of Gujarat From The Time Of The Indus Valley Civilization, When Gujarati Society Came To Be A Synthesis Of Diverse Peoples And Cultures, To The State S Encounters With The Turks, Marathas And The Portuguese, Which Sowed The Seeds Of Communal Disharmony. Taking A Closer Look At The Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries, The Authors Explore The Political Tensions, Social Dynamics And Economic Forces That Contributed To Making The State What It Is Today: The Impact Of The British Policies; The Process Of Industrialization And Urbanization, And The Rise Of The Middle Class; The Emergence Of The Idea Of Swadeshi ; The Coming Of Gandhi And His Attempts To Transform Society And Politics By Bringing Together Diverse Gujarati Cultural Sources; And The Series Of Communal Riots That Rocked Gujarat Even As The State Was Consumed By Nationalist Fervour. With Independence And Statehood, The Government Encouraged A New Model Of Development, Which Marginalized Dalits, Adivasis And Minorities Even Further. This Was Accompanied By The Emergence Of Identity Politics Based On The Hindutva Ideology, And Violence In Multiple Forms Became Increasingly Visible, Overshadowing Gujarat S Image As One Of The Most Industrialized, Urbanized And Globalized Societies In India. The Authors Conclude That This Trajectory Of Gujarat S Modern History Has Been Propelled By Its Powerful Middle Class And Future Directions Would Depend On How This Section Of Society Resolves Global Local Tensions And How They Make Their Peace With The Past.

This book is a historical study of modern Gujarat, India, addressing crucial questions of language, identity, and power. It examines the debates over language among the elite of this region during a period of significant social and political change in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Language debates closely reflect power relations among different sections of society, such as those delineated by nation, ethnicity, region, religion, caste, class, and gender. They are intimately linked with the process in which individuals and groups of people try to define and project themselves in response to changing political, economic, and social environments. Based on rich historical sources, including official records, periodicals, literary texts, memoirs, and private papers, this book vividly shows the impact that colonialism, nationalism, and the process of nation-building had on the ideas of language among different groups, as well as how various ideas of language competed and negotiated with each other. Language, Identity, and Power in Modern India: Gujarat, c.1850–1960 will be of particular interest to students and scholars working on South Asian history and to those interested in issues of language, society, and politics in different parts of the modern world.

In 2002, after an altercation between Muslim vendors and Hindu travelers at a railway station in the Indian state of Gujarat, fifty-nine Hindu pilgrims were burned to death. The ruling nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party blamed Gujarat's entire Muslim minority for the tragedy and incited fellow Hindus to exact revenge. The resulting violence left more than one thousand people dead--most of them Muslims--and tens of thousands more displaced from their homes. Parvis Ghassem-Fachandi witnessed the bloodshed up close. In Pogrom in Gujarat, he provides a riveting ethnographic account of collective violence in which the doctrine of ahimsa--or nonviolence--and the closely associated practices of vegetarianism became implicated by legitimating what they formally disavow. Ghassem-Fachandi looks at how newspapers, movies, and other media helped to fuel the pogrom. He shows how the vegetarian sensibilities of Hindus and the language of sacrifice were manipulated to provoke disgust against Muslims and mobilize the aspiring middle classes across caste and class differences in the name of Hindu nationalism. Drawing on his intimate knowledge of Gujarat's culture and politics and the close ties he shared with some of the pogrom's sympathizers, Ghassem-Fachandi offers a strikingly original interpretation of the different ways in which Hindu proponents of ahimsa became complicit in the very violence they claimed to renounce.

Delhi, 1947. The city surges with Partition refugees. Eager to escape the welter of pain and confusion that surrounds her, young Krishna applies on a whim to a position at a preschool in the princely state of Sirohi, itself on the cusp of transitioning into the republic of India. She is greeted on arrival with condescension for her refugee status, and treated with sexist disdain by Zutshi Sahib, the man charged with hiring for the position. Undaunted, Krishna fights back. But when an opportunity to become governess to the child maharaja Tej Singh Bahadur presents itself-and with it a chance to make Sirohi her new home once and for all-there is no telling how long this idyll will last. Part novel, part memoir, part feminist anthem, A Gujarat Here, A Gujarat There is not only a powerful tale of Partition loss and dislocation but also charts the odyssey of a spirited young woman determined to build a new identity for herself on her own terms.

Endurance: A Droll Saga Originally Published In Gujarati In 1947 As Manavini Bhavai Is A Modern Classic. Set Against The Rural Backdrop Of Gujarat, ItýS A Fictionalized Account Of The Great Famine Of 1990, Which Had Ravaged This Part Of The World. Written In A Simple, Direct Style, Free Of Conventional Artifice And Sophistication It Is Not ýCrude ý Or ýRawý. It Is The Story Of Love Between Kalu And Raju As Well As The Story Of Hard And Tragic Life Of The Farmers In Indian Villages. The Translation Seeks To Retain The Essential Simplicity, The Rustic Flavour And Spirit Of The Original As Closely As Possible.