This title was first published in 2003. Can a text be used either to validate or to invalidate contemporary understandings? Texts may be deemed 'sacred', but sacred to whom? Do conflicting understandings matter? Is it appropriate to try to offer a resolution? For Hindus and non-Hindus, in India and beyond, Valmiki is the poet-saint who composed the epic Rà mà yaõa. Yet for a vocal community of dalits (once called 'untouchables'), within and outside India, Valmiki is God. How then does one explain the popular story that he started out as an ignorant and violent bandit, attacking and killing travellers for material gain? And what happens when these two accounts, Valmiki as God and Valmiki as villain, are held simultaneously by two different religious groups, both contemporary, and both vocal? This situation came to a head with controversial demonstrations by the Valmiki community in Britain in 2000, giving rise to some searching questions which Julia Leslie now seeks to address.

Drawing on textual and art historical sources, this book traces the conceptual and iconographic development of the Indian riverine goddess of knowledge Sarasvati from sometime after 1750 B.C.E. to the seventh century C.E.

Lost Knowledge: The Concept of Vanished Technologies and Other Human Histories examines the idea of lost knowledge, reaching back to a period between myth and history. It investigates a peculiar idea found in a number of early texts: that there were civilizations with knowledge of sophisticated technologies, and that this knowledge was obscured or destroyed over time along with the civilization that had created it. This book presents critical studies of a series of early Chinese, South Asian, and other texts that look at the idea of specific “lost” technologies, such as mechanical flight and the transmission of images. There is also an examination of why concepts of a vanished “golden age” were prevalent in so many cultures. Offering an engaging and investigative look at the propagation of history and myth in technology and culture, this book is sure to interest historians and readers from many backgrounds.

Phantasies of a Love Thief

First published in 1966, The Petition to Ram, Vinaya-Patrika is a collection of devotional hymns and was primarily intended for singing. It is, however, a work of outstanding poetic beauty, and both its language and contents are unsurpassed in Tulsi Das’s other writings. Tulsi Das, a contemporary of George Herbert and Donne is best known for his Hindi version of The Ramayana, a devotional work whose popularity in northern India has earned it a reputation comparable to that of the Bible or Bhagavad Gita. The main body of the text is addressed not to the reader so much as to God or to the poet himself. It thus belongs to a special form of self-communings which developed in the vernacular literatures of north India from the 13th century onwards. Not without reason has the present work been compared to the book of the Psalms. The translator has prefaced the text with an introduction to the life and works of the poet, the sources and contents of Vinaya Partika, and discussion of the main elements of Tulsi Das’s devotional religion. Short explanatory notes and a glossary have been added to help the reader understand the many references and allusions to Indian thought and tradition. This work is a must read for scholars and researchers of Indian philosophical thought, Indian literature, and literature in general.

Indian art, increasingly popular in the west, cannot be fully appreciated without some knowledge of the religious and philosophical background. This book, first published in 1985, covers all aspects of Hindu iconography, and explains that its roots lie far back in the style of prehistoric art. The dictionary demonstrates the rich profusion of cults, divinities, symbols, sects and philosophical views encompassed by the Hindu religious tradition.

The Nako temple complex from the 12th century is an extraordinary testimony of early Tibetan Buddhism not anymore preserved in today’s Tibet. Endangered by the rough environment, improper treatment and frequent earthquakes, the outstanding monuments were re-discovered by scholars from Austrian universities in the 1980s. The transdisciplinary research project carried out over more than 20 years led to in-depth studies, preservation and model-like conservation of the temples and their artworks.