Presents an analytical study of Indian culture and society, with the chief aim of identifying the origins of the nation's problems.

The Speaking Tree: A Study of Indian Culture and Society

History

Richard Lannoy

Asia

OUP India

Upanishads

Alistair Shearer

Peter, Russell

Religion & Spirituality

Harper&Row

Language: English 
Pages: 640 (In Full Color & B & W Illustrations)\nFrom the Jacket :\nA rare combination of creative photography and cultural history put together by one man, this book both visually and textually is the most massive presentation of this extraordinary city ever attempted. It is the fruit of a lifelong interest in Benares from 1953 until the present day.\nThe populace of Benares lives within a historical environment spanning at least three millennia of continuous habitation. Though now beset with all the characteristic urban ills of the age, it is arguably the oldest living city in the world. A centre of learning since antiquity, its way of live has not essentially changed. Its fame as the spiritual capital of India was given added luster two thousand five hundred years ago when the Buddha commenced his ministry there. The book includes an absorbing account of the Buddha's life and the significance of his teaching today.\nLannoy's Benares is no tourist's idyll, nor yet is it an exercise in penddling a 'Third World' mythology of exotica garnished with grunge. Unflinching in his observations, yet enourmously sensitive to his subject, Lannoy records the everyday life of Hinduism' most sacred city. And it is not through the formal acts of ritual, but through the most ordinary gestures of riverside and marketplace that the charged, heightened drama of life in Benares unfolds.\nThe variety and range of themes is remarkable. Lannoy opens with a revealing account of the way he deals with the interplay between photographic instantaneity and sacred time. He then explains the metaphysical substructure of the city organized as a microcosm of the universe, and proceeds to find photographic equivalents for this, exploring the symbolism of Benares as cosmogram and ce

Benares Seen from Within

Arts & Photography

Photography & Video

Indica Books, Varanasi

This major contribution to the study of urban culture, first published in 1999 as the magnificent photographic book Benares Seen From Within, is now issued in a more accessible format and a reduced price, its text substantially revised. Among other themes, Lannoy writes about the metaphysical substructure of the city, the ancient cults of the pillar and the sun-wheel, the Buddha, yoga, commerce and weaving, pilgrimage and extends its survey up to the present, with Hindu-Muslim conflicts, the tension between religion and secularism, and a lively account of the great woman-saint Anandamayi Ma. Illustrated with many photographs by the author.

Benares: A World Within a World

Indica Books

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Books by Richard Lannoy