UNEARTH THE PHILOSOPHY AND LEARNINGS OF INDIAN SCRIPTURES WITH 25 CAPTIVATING STORIES RETOLD BY SPIRITUAL LEADER DAAJI Prince Yudhishtir who gets his dead brothers back from an enchanted pool, King Trishanku who desired to go to heaven while he was still alive, and the Monkey God Hanuman who learns a lesson in humility. Curious, aren’t you? These stories and many more form the heart of the Puranas and Itihaas, among the oldest written Hindu texts. Daaji’s keen curatorial selection brings an array of ancient tales of adventure, quests and wisdom. He engages with the narratives and simplifies the ancient wisdom to make it understandable and at the same time feed the imagination of children and set them on a path to self-discovery. These stories provide insights into the mind, heart and consciousness of human beings and their relationships with others. They are intended to leave children with life lessons to be cherished through their lives. This book is an excellent place for young minds to start learning about the fascinating Vedic era with stories that are relevant for anyone who is interested in understanding the meaning of life. Accompanied by Gayatri Panchpade’s charming illustrations, this is an easy-to-understand introduction to the otherwise complex world of ancient Hindu scriptures and literature.

The Puranas, as suggested by their name, describe events deep in the earth’s past. Finding a complete cosmology in the ancient Puranic texts that is mostly aligned to the view of cutting-edge science is almost incredible. This book attempts to do so – through an exploratory analysis. The narrative is pieced together by exploring familiar stories from the Puranas in great depth. In the well-known story of the Descent of Ganga, the extra-terrestrial origin of Earth’s waters has been described in amazing detail. The story of the birth of the Sun God Martanda bears a striking resemblance to the origin of the sun. The Churning of the Milk Ocean recounts the re-appearance of the Moon. The book delves into many such stories along with external evidence to come up with a compelling chronicle of our Universe. The book shows the Puranic texts in a fascinating new light. It also serves as a primer to the general interest reader by tackling some of the questions that modern science is grappling with in its study of the cosmos.

In the not-so-distant future, India has fallen, and the world is on the brink of an apocalyptic war. An attack by the terrorist group Invisible Hand has brutally eliminated the Indian Prime Minister and the union cabinet. As a national emergency is declared, chaos, destruction and terror reign supreme.

Why did Lord Shiva, at the instigation of Brahma, tease Parvati?Why do we not use the champak flower to worship Lord Shiva?In which purana would you learn about a prayer for Lord Vishnu to protect you in all four directions with his sudarshana chakra, koumodaki gada, sounanda hala, and shatana mushala?Why did Sita mata curse fire, the river Phalgu, the ketaki flower and the cow?Which Purana tells us the story of the lake that turned four black swans to white, and why?Why did Draupadi have five husbands?What does it mean to read abridged translations of all nineteen Puranas in one year? This is the book of questions and answers, of those nineteen books, thirty-eight reviews, and the year that went by. Anvita and Anika, sisters, read abridged translations of the nineteen maha-Puranas over the course of a year. In addition to thirty-eight reviews, there are also several anecdotes of their experiences through the year as they read and wrote, and how school, studies, exams, and a maniacal father drove them to ever greater depths of despair. In the book you will find over a hundred stories, factoids, and nuggets from the Puranas. How Parvati became Gouri, stories about Kurukshetra, the punya that accumulates from reading the Puranas, the types of fasts to observe and their benefits, the types of donations one can give, episodes from the Mahabharata, different accounts of how Ganesha was born and how he broke a tusk, and many, many more - as seen from the eyes of two young children!

It is one of the bestselling books on Modern Indian History covering the time line from 1707 to the modern times. The book covers the entire gamut in a very unique style- it mentions not only factual data about various topics but also provides information about different interpretations put forth by Western and Indian historians, with an integrated analysis. This makes the book equally useful for undergraduate students of History and aspirants appearing for various competitive examinations.

In popular imagination, Lala Lajpat Rai is frequently associated with Bhagat Singh, who, by assassinating J.P. Saunders, avenged Rai’s death, caused by a police lathi charge, and was hanged for it. Lajpat Rai is also remembered for his fervent opposition to British rule. In recent decades, however, historians have converged with the Hindu Right in rediscovering Lajpat Rai as an ideological ancestor of Hindutva. But what then explains Rai’s wholehearted approval of Congress–Muslim League cooperation, and attempt to endow Hindus and Muslims with bonds of common belonging? Why did he reinterpret India’s medieval history to highlight peaceful coexistence between Hindus and Muslims? Have our hasty conclusions about Lajpat Rai’s nationalist thought concealed its complexities and distorted our understanding of nationalism in general? Meticulously researched and eloquently written, Being Hindu, Being Indian offers the first comprehensive examination of Lajpat Rai’s nationalist thought. By revealing the complexities of Rai’s thinking, it provokes us to think more deeply about broader questions relevant to present-day politics: Are all expressions of ‘Hindu nationalism’ the same as Hindutva? What are the similarities and differences between ‘Hindu’ and ‘Indian’ nationalism? Can communalism and secularism be expressed together? How should we understand fluidity in politics? This book invites readers to treat Lajpat Rai’s ideas as a gateway to think more deeply about history, politics, religious identity and nationhood.