The region of Bihar is one of the great foci of Indian history. From before the days of Buddha it was a major centre of Indian Political life and the most significant cultural centres, especially in respect of Buddhism. Hitherto the student of Ancient India has been rather badly provided with geographical and topographical studies. Dr. M.S. Pandey has made a very significance contribution to the subject. The author has ransacked a very large range of sources for information and has produced a survey of the subject which may in many respects serve as a model to students working on other regions of India. The chapter helps in understanding the geographical forces behind historical events of the state. The author has dealt very scholarly the Historical outlines; mountain systems; river systems, regions & districts, place-names, communications etc. The book is written with scholarly acumen and clarity and is very evidently the work of a man with a deep affection for his native land.

Keith Yandell's Philosophy of Religion: A Contemporary Introduction was one of the first textbooks to explore the philosophy of religion with reference to religions other than Christianity. This new, revised edition explores the logical validity and truth claims of several world religions—Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism—with updated, streamlined discussions on important topics in philosophy of religion such as: Religious pluralism Freedom and responsibility Evidentialist Moral Theism Reformed Epistemology Doxastic Practice Epistemology The problem of evil Ontological and cosmological arguments Other new features include updated Questions for Reflection,and new Annotated Bibliographies for each chapter, as well as an updated Glossary. This exciting new edition, much like its classic predecessor, is sure to be a classroom staple for undergraduate students studying philosophy of religion, as well as a comprehensive introductory read for anyone interested in the subject.

According to Advaita-Vedanta, God or Brahman is identical with the inner self (the Atman) of each person, while the rest of the world is nothing but objective illusion (maya). Shankara maintains that there are two primary levels of existence and knowledge: the higher knowledge that is Brahman itself, and the relative, limited knowledge, regarded as the very texture of the universe. Consequently, the task of a human being is to reach the absolute unity and the reality of Brahman--in other words, to reach the innermost self within his or her own being, discarding on the way all temporary characteristics and attributes.

India is a multifaceted, multicultural nation with a rich tradition of ethnic, religious, linguistic, social and cultural mores, beliefs and practices. What has allowed for such a rich diversity of people and what have been the challenges to effective communication between and among these groups? India is also Bharat, and where does the twain meet between the imagined and the real India and the imagined and the real Bharat? This book offers insights into understanding how we deal with difference, how we perceive one another and what we do about religious, caste and regional conflicts using the lens of “communication studies”. It can be read by both intelligent and lay readers as well as students of communication, culture and other social sciences.

Macrina McGrath, a young 23-year-old Catholic ex-Marine and unwed mother, begins to see cracks in the Church she grew up loving. Bad priests preying on children, harsh treatment of the divorced and LGBTQ, a deep-seated and toxic sexism, and archaic dogmas force her to choose between leaving the Church or trying to make it better. Pursuing graduate school in theology at Georgetown and a trip to India help form her resolve: She will stop at nothing to take the Church out of the Middle Ages and deliver women from their abject status. Macrina McGrath joins and soon after heads the excommunicated Womanpriest movement and, with the help of the Archbishop of Boston, begins an ascent she never imagined. But her love for Ezra, a Jewish physicist and colleague at Amherst where they teach, is getting in the way.

Explores deep sleep (susupti), one of the three states of consciousness in Advaita Vedanta, and the major role it plays in this philosophy.

The aim of this dissertation is to present a systematic exposition of renunciation (Samnyasa) as a philosophico-religious category within Indian tradition with special reference to Advaita Vedanta of Samkaracarya. The author tried to justify this category as a spiritual technique systematically worked out and developed by Advaitins particularly Samkara with a view to classifying and systematizing values in terms of the different forms which renunciation and its object may be found to assume. This dissertation also highlights principles of human behaviour in the Indian tradition implicitly clarifying thereby such concepts as dharma (socio-religious duties), the good life, obligation and responsibility etc.

This introduction to the Madhva school of Vedanta is accessible to a wide audience with interest in Hinduism, Indian thought and in the comparative philosophy of religion. Deepak Sarma explores the philosophical foundations of Madhva Vedanta and then presents translations of actual debates between the Madhva and Advaita schools of Vedanta, thus positioning readers at the centre of the 700 year-old controversy between these two schools of Vedanta. Original texts of Madhvacarya are included in an appendix, in translation and in Sanskrit.