As a sixteenth century Himalayan mountain girl, Tara knew a husband would be chosen for her. One day, Mughals riding sleek Arabian horses arrived seeking a woman prophesized to be one of the sultan's wives. Fear and excitement mingle in Tara's heart as she realizes she is the chosen one. Tara is taken to live in sultan Ibrahim's desert fortress. Since assuming power at eighteen, Ibrahim had established a vast empire where the arts flourished and religious tolerance meant peace. There, Tara joins Ibrahim's wives, each representing a region and religion, and quickly grows to love the exotic people and their rituals. Ibrahim is consumed by Tara's beauty and passion, and she quickly becomes his exclusive nightly companion. Tara's intelligence bonds her to Ibrahim's very first wife, Kiren. Together, Tara and Kiren serve Ibrahim, Tara as his lover and Kiren as his political advisor. As jealousy simmers among Ibrahim's wives, a southern governor, Bhaji, builds power by encouraging Hindu nationalism against Ibrahim's empire. Working against both time and karma, Tara, Kiren, and Ibrahim must devise a strategy to confront the tide of unrest. The task seems insurmountable as culture, religion, and ethnic politics collide in this riveting story of love, faith, and karmic tragedy.

Explore new research on the religious and cultural traditions of the Himalayan Buddhist world. Over decades, hundreds of American undergraduates spending a semester abroad have been introduced to Tibetan culture in India, Nepal, and China by Hubert Decleer. A number went on to become prominent scholars in the field at institutions such as Yale, Berkeley, and Georgetown, and as a tribute to him they have put together this collection of cutting-edge research in Himalayan studies, bringing together contributions of this new generation with those of senior researchers in the field. This new research on the religion and culture of the Himalayan Buddhist world spans a broad range of subjects, periods, and approaches, and the diversity and strength of the contributions ensures Himalayan Passages be warmly welcomed by scholars, travelers, and Tibetan Buddhists alike. Highlights include: Donald S. Lopez, Jr. tells the story of Gendun Chopel's unusual visit to Sri Lanka in 1941. Leonard van der Kuijp examines the Bodhicittavivarana, an ancient work on the enlightened resolve to free all beings. Kabir Mansingh Heimsath compares Western and Chinese curatorial approaches to Tibetan modern art. Alexander von Rospatt illuminates the fascinating history and artistic details of the famous Svayambhu stupa in Kathmandu. Sarah H. Jacoby translates the short autobiography of Sera Khandro, the celebrated female Tibetan mystic of a century ago. Additional contributors include Franz-Karl Ehrhard, Ernst Steinkellner, Jacob P. Dalton, Iain Sinclair, Anne Vergati, Punya Prasad Parajuli, and Dominique Townsend.

* Winner of the first Barbara Savage Memorial Award * Stunning color photos of the journey * Look into the heart of the top of the world This is the story of two young couples who embarked on a free-form journey through Tibet, Nepal, China, India and Pakistan. Their goal: to circumnavigate the Himalayas by bike, foot, truck by any means necessary, the slope of the world's greatest mountain range their only guide. Along the way they experienced a region steeped in ancient tradition but permanently altered by its confrontation with the 20th century; they discovered all that is exotic and mundane, funny and tragic, and beautiful and brutal about this vast territory. Jeremy Schmidt's humorous, evocative narrative recounts bureaucrats, knife-wielding Khampas, lamas-in-training, and mystics of every stripe. With stunning photographs by Patrick Morrow, Himalayan Passage reveals a place imbued with meaning and reality far beyond anything in the world below: the mysterious, turbulent Himalayas, the gates to God. Also available in hardcover.

Birds migrating across the Himalayan region fly over the highest peaks in the world, facing immense physiological and climatic challenges. The authors show the different strategies used by birds to cope with these challenges. Many wetland avian species are seen in the high-altitude lakes of the Himalayas and the adjoining Tibetan Plateau, such as Bar-Headed Geese. Ringing programmes have generated information about origins and destinations, and this book is the first to present information on the bird's exact migratory paths. Capitalising on knowledge generated through satellite telemetry, the authors describe the migratory routes of a multitude of birds flying over or skirting the Himalayas. The myriad of threats to migratory birds and the wetland system in the Central Asian Flyway are discussed, with ways to mitigate them. This volume will inform and persuade policy-makers and conservation practitioners to take appropriate measures for the long-term survival of this unique migration.

“Will have river veterans nodding in agreement and surprise. I loved the journey." — Doug Stanton, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, Horse Soldiers “An important contribution to the literature of exploration. This book had my pulse racing."— Peter Heller, author of The Dog Stars and The River A dramatic narrative tour of 10 of the world’s most incredible whitewater adventures—spanning 5 continents and 40 years—guided by a legendary whitewater trailblazer This fascinating history of daring whitewater explorers stands alongside classic works on mountaineering, outdoor survival, and extreme sports Perfect for fans of Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air and Candice Millard’s River of the Gods In 10 thrilling real-life adventure stories, pioneering whitewater explorer Wick Walker examines what lured a generation of incredibly daring pioneers into some of Earth’s most wondrous yet forbidding river canyons: below Victoria Falls on the Zambezi, the Great Bend of the Tsangpo in Tibet, Tiger Leaping Gorge on the Yangtze, the flanks of Mount Everest, and more Loaded with great moments and personal stories, Walker details what these adventurers found there, and within themselves. The extraordinary characters, driven by different motives and visions, but united by their compulsion to seek the unknown and the pulse of free-flowing water, are as remarkable as the daunting geography and conditions they confront. Whitewater sport today stands side-by-side with mountaineering in participation and public attention, yet it has lagged in generating its own literature. Torrents As Yet Unknown helps fill that gap for readers interested in human drama played out against great natural challenges. Mountaineering history is deep and its literature rich, but whitewater adventurers approach and experience the same forbidding terrain from a different vantage, between the steep walls of their canyons and atop powerful torrents of cascading water.

Tennessee Off the Beaten Path features the things travelers and locals want to see and experience––if only they knew about them. From the best in local dining to quirky cultural tidbits to hidden attractions, unique finds, and unusual locales, Tennessee Off the Beaten Path takes the reader down the road less traveled and reveals a side of Tennessee that other guidebooks just don't offer.

2023-24 UPTET/CTET English Solved Papers

The thoroughly revised & Upgraded 7th edition of the book Crack IAS Prelims General Studies (CSAT) - Paper 2 is an exhaustive book capturing all the important topics being asked in the last few years of the IAS Prelim exam. • The book has been divided into 9 Units & 40 Chapters. • Each chapter porovides theory along with an Exercise in every chapter with fully solved past CSAT questions from 2011 onwards. • The book has separate units for Comprehension and English Language Comprehension. • English Language RC passage covers all literary styles. • Exhaustive exercise of situation-based questions to test decision making and administrative course of action. • Vast variety of situation-based questions to test Interpersonal Skills including Communication Skills. • Questions of Critical Reasoning based on Passages and Puzzles that are mostly asked in the exam, are covered with almost all varieties of questions in very large number. • Miscellaneous graphs as asked in 2018 Symmetric and Skew Distribution of Data as asked in 2015 are provided in the Data Interpretation unit of this book. • The Exercise covers the fully solved past CSAT questions from 2011 onwards. In all the book contains 3000+ MCQs with detailed solutions. The book provides 5 Mock Tests with Solutions on the exact pattern as followed in the last CSAT paper.