The Vedas are indisputably among the oldest of mankind s documents. Which Dr. Marta Vannucci rummages through to address a highly enigmatic question: How man evolved as Man: thinking, discriminating, thought-communicating? Or, yet more specifically, how did he come to identify cause-effect relationships of living-beings: both among themselves and with their environment? In looking for answers, she discovers profound biological, physiological, and ecological insights in Vedic writings which she projects here, with coherent analyses and prolific textual references. Dr Vannucci, who has studied Indian sacred texts for about twenty years, is perhaps the first ever biologist to explore the ecological validity of Vedas. With her critical Florentine mind and five-decade-long involvement in scientific methodologies, she interprets the complex Vedic verses in her thematic effort to decipher the ancient code with a bio-ecological key -spelling out, contextually, the Matter-Energy principles (embodied in Lord Agni) and Life-Hope principles (personified by Lord Savitr). Also setting out a comparative perspective on Vedic expressions of ecology and its contemporary worldview, the author suggests that the essential difference between the two stems not from the perception of reality, but from the manner of their theorizing. It is a painstakingly documented work, with a large-scale glossary of Sanskrit/ technical words and extensive bibliographic references. And also a foreword by a cultural scholar of Dr Kapila Vatsyayans eminence.

Ecological Readings in the Veda: Matter-Energy-Life

Marta Vannucci

Science & Math

D.K. Printworld

Indisputably one of the world s best-known books, the Bhagavad Gita embodies the quintessence of classical Upanishadic philosophy, presented in the form of a dialogue between Krishna, the archetypal teacher, and Arjuna, the archetypal human being caught in the grip of a monumental crisis. For anyone like Arjuna who has ever paused to ponder the meaning of life, the work is as relevant today as it was when it was written. By stripping away the manifold biases both subtle and obvious that have coloured other commentaries, Guru Nitya has uncovered the perennial philosophy at the heart of this great classic. In an original, easy to understand format, his commentary divides each of the Gitas eighteen chapters into three sections: the first elucidating the basic concepts involved; the second including Sanskrit text in Roman script along with the English meaning of each word or phrase and Nataraja Guru s lucid and revolutionary English translation; and the third carrying explanatory notes and comments in the form of a dialogue between a teacher and student. The breakthrough of this interpretation of thehy Gita is in its transcendence of sectarian dogma to reveal the work as a fully developed scientific psychology, whose keen insights and vivid reasoning can be readily appreciated by the twenty-first century mind.

Bhagavad Gita

Politics & Social Sciences

Guru Nitya Chaitanya Yati

Philosophy

The Taittiriya Upanisad is offered in three chapters treated singly by Swami Narayana Prasad who reveals the invisible thread that runs through them. The analytical commentary results from the author's own reflections and the insights he has gained from interactions over the years.

The Taittiriya Upanishad: With the Original Text in Sanskrit and Roman Transliteration (Rediscovering Indian Literary Classics) (English and Sanskrit Edition)

Literature & Fiction

Muni Narayana Prasad

History & Criticism

It is a treasure document enlightening the various stages of development of Mathura art from its earliest times. Introducing the socio-cultural background from the pre-historic times it furnishes a valuable account of the archaeological explorations and expeditions in the region since the first antiquity saw the light of the day in 1836. Indigenous by birth, the Mathura School of Art flourished on the banks of Yamuna, reached its pinnacle under the Kushana patronage, continued in the Gupta age followed by Medieval times, thus dominating the entire Northern India for more than five centuries leaving behind imprints to be followed by the succeeding art styles. The type of stone and style changed with time and it did get influenced by its contemporary School of Gandhara once, but its exclusiveness remained down the ages. Beside the analytical assessment of the folk art tradition of early terracottas and yaksha cult, Dr. Sharma brings to light for the first time the salient features of the evolution and development of Mathura sculptures on various themes including Jaina, Buddhist and Brahmanical. The book is an uptodate document of new researches, fresh arrivals and latest reorganisation of the Museum s galleries. The coloured and black & white illustrations in this book speak of the display of rich Mathura art in the Museum. The Index to the Exhibits will facilitate in spotting the description of a specific object quickly. Important sites have been located on the City and District maps and situation of galleries and ancillary units of the Museum can be found on the Gallery Plan. While the visitors will find the book a very remunerative companion during the Museum round the scholars will equally be benefitted through the prolific research material it reveals.

Splendour of Mathura Art and Museum

Arts & Photography

R. C. Sharma

Collections, Catalogs & Exhibitions

An encyclopaedia of Buddhist deities, demigods, godlings, saints, and demons with special focus on iconographic attributes (Emerging perceptions in Buddhist studies)

Reference

Bunce, Fredrick W.

Encyclopedias & Subject Guides

With about 8,000 articles, this Encyclopaedia presents a panorama of Buddhist deities, demigods, godlings, demons the whole range of good and evil forces with the spotlight on the concretized, recognizable forms and their subtle symbolism. Beginning with a few aniconic symbols, like foot prints, a throne, the Bo tree or stupas, in the prechristian Indian art, Buddhism came to evolve a variety of picturesque representations of a Self-Existent, Superimmanent Principle: in myriad forms and emanations that range from the superbly magnificent to sheerly grotesque. Endowed with diverse iconographic attributes, Buddhist deities/saints/demons have grown, over the rolling centuries, into bewildering numbers, legions. Which all, leave alone the neophytes, not even the best of scholars can recognize! The names of the divinities and their cultural/regional perceptions owing largely to the plurality of Buddhist pantheons, have only gone on to further complicate their identification. Unveiled, for the first time, in the pages of this Encyclopaedia, is a panorama of Buddhist deities, demigods, godlings, saints and demons, with spotlight on the concretized, recognizable forms and the subtle symbolism they involve. In its nearly 8000 alphabetically arranged articles of varying lengths, it mixes gods and demons, bhiksus and btsans, the aesthetic and the grotesque in fact, nearly the whole range of good and evil forces which the inspired among the adherents of the Buddhist faith conceived so ingeniously! Professor Bunce has painstakingly marshalled a wealth of data from authoritative language sources, notably, Sanskrit, Pali, Tibetan, Newari/Nepalese, Chinese, Mongolian, Japanese, Siamese/Thai, Annamese/Viet Namese, Javanese, and Sinhalese, in his effort to capture almost the entire framework of Buddhist divinities: a multi-pantheonic framework, together with its classes, groups and hierarchies, ranging from Adi-Buddha to Arhats and yet beyond. Himself a distinguished scholar of Oriental/Buddhist Art, Dr. Bunce incorporates, in scrupulous detail, the iconographic attributes of deities: like colours, heads/eyes, hands, objects held, body, feet, asanas, mudras, ornaments, vahanas, emanations, and whether calm or wrathful which, with a generous supplement of illustrations: about 300 elegant line-drawings and several colour plates, highlight the distinctiveness of each individual figure. Also included in the Encyclopaedia are user's guide, glossaries (of asanas, mudras and attributes), identification charts, a hierarchic table, and bibliographic references. Growing from years of Professor Bunce s persevered research and study, this compilation is certainly the first ever to draw together most of the Buddhist divinities/mythological characters, in their distinctly recognizable forms. And is, therefore, indispensable to both the specialists and non-specialists trying to identify each from a whole host of these figural representations.

Encyclopedia of Buddhist, Demigods Godlings, Saints and Demons (Two Volume Set)

Fredrick W. Bunce

Catalogs & Directories

The development of Drishti-Srishti-vada from its emergence till its establishment has been systematically presented in this book entitled Idealistic Thought in Indian Philosophy. The author has attempted to show how the Idealistic thought of a primary stage reached its acme step by step. The book explains what Idealism signifies in its different shades with special reference to the Idealistic schools of Indian philosophy and also speaks about the rise and growth of Idealisitc thought from the Vedic times till the final establishment of Drishti-Srishti-vada in the Kevaladvaita Vedanta vis-a-vis the Srshti-Drishti--vada of the same school. Drishti-Srishti-vada of the Kevaladvaita Vedanta represents the culmination of Idealistic thought. Idealism, rooted in the Upanishadic era, reached its zenith in the Drishti-Srishti-vada and was finally established in the sixteenth century A.D. by Prakashananda. Drishti-Srishti-vada totally denounces the reality of the wordly phenomena and puts them on a par with the dreaming world. This theory emphasiges that the world of appearance has no substantiality but exists only when it is perceived. In other words srishti and drishti are both identical. Drishti-Srishti-vada multifies the unapprehended existence of the world and is an unique theory of solving the riddle of the world of appearance, even while upholding the Absolute Reality of the ultimate Reality.

Idealistic Thought in Indian Philosophy

Shuchita C. Divatia

DIVATIA, SHUCHITA

Studies the doctrinal beliefs of Karma and reincarnation from the viewpoint of advaitin.

Karma and Reincarnation; The Vedantic Perspective

Religion & Spirituality

Swami Muni Narayana Prasad

Hinduism

This study offers a fresh approach in comparing ancient Greek and Indian dramatic theories. Instead of treating the Poetics and the Natyashastra as Western and Eastern viewpoints, it places them within the broad framework of ancient Indo-European culture and the art of sacred drama (hieropraxis). It demonstrates that hieropraxis was basically different from post-Renaissance European drama which was entirely secular in content and Realistic in presentation. The Poetics and the Natyashastra on the contrary, belonged to theatres which pleased both gods and men, and which used semiotised gesture, dance, music, and dialogue to create a highly ornate theatrical reality. The book aims at comparing not only the concepts as propounded by Aristotle and Bharata Muni, but also attempts to reconstruct the Greek and Indian performances to highlight their similarities and differences. In view of the increasing constrains imposed on artistic endeavours by commercial pre-occupations in today s world, this stimulating revaluation of the two major classical stage-crafts will go a long way in the discerning and shaping of newer modes of performance. Concepts like anukarana, dharmi, abhinaya, itivritta, mimesis, muthos, melopoiia, katharsis and rasa, etc., as revisited and expounded here, can be seen as means of creating dramatic shows which go beyond message and entertainment to provide sublimer experiences.

Dramatic Concepts, Greek and Indian: A Study of the Poetics and the Natyasastra

Bharat Gupt

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