The First Volume Of This Collector S Edition Brings Together Five Of Bankimchandra S Best-Known Works In English Translation. Set In The Bengal Of Emperor Jehangir S Time, Kapalkundala Tells The Story Of Nabakumar, A Young Woman Named Kapalkundala Whom He Rescues From A Tantric Intent On Human Sacrifice, And The Beautiful Lutfunnisa Who Has Sold Her Heart On Marrying Him. In Bishabriksha (The Poison Tree), Set In Bankimchandra S Own Time, Nagendra Is Torn Between His Devoted Wife Suryamukhi And The Bewitching Young Widow Kundanandini. Unable To Prioritize Either Of The Women He Cares For, Nagendra Ends Up Losing Both. Indira Is A Lighthearted Tale Of Playful Intrigues: Upendra Does Not Realize That His Wife Indira Is Now Working As A Cook In His Friend S House, And Is Given A Royal Run-Around By Indira And Subhasini, Her Employer. Krishnakanta S Will Is A Tragedy Of Lust, Infidelity, Greed And Death Revolving Around Govindalal, His Wife Bhramar, The Attractive Widow Rohini, And A Stolen Will. Rajani, The Story Of A Blind Girl And Two Men, Sachindra And Amarnath, Is A Psychologically Taut Tale; It Is The First Indian Novel Where Characters Narrate Their Stories In The First Person. Evoking The Bengal Of Yore In All Its Hues, Bankimchandra S Novels Explore Love And Relationships And The Manner In Which Society Shapes Them. Translated Exclusively For Penguin, These Superbly Crafted Novels Are Sure To Hold Readers In Thrall Today Just As They Did Over A Century Ago.

The first volume of this collector's edition brings together five of Bankimchandra's best-known works in English translation. Set in the Bengal of Emperor Jehangir's time, Kapalkundala tells the story of Nabakumar, a young woman named Kapalkundala whom he rescues from a tantric intent on human sacrifice, and the beautiful Lutfunnisa who has sold her heart on marrying him. In Bishabriksha (The Poison Tree), set in Bankimchandra's own time, Nagendra is torn between his devoted wife Suryamukhi and the bewitching young widow Kundanandini. Unable to prioritize either of the women he cares for, Nagendra ends up losing both. Indira is a lighthearted tale of playful intrigues: Upendra does not realize that his wife Indira is now working as a cook in his friend's house, and is given a royal run-around by Indira and Subhasini, her employer. Krishnakanta's Will is a tragedy of lust, infidelity, greed and death revolving around Govindalal, his wife Bhramar, the attractive widow Rohini, and a stolen will. psychologically taut tale; it is the first Indian novel where characters narrate their stories in the first person.

This book provides an informed and lively introduction to the Indian novel in English which is now a fixture on the international literary scene. It discusses the work of major writers including Rabindranath Tagore, Mulk Raj Anand, RK Narayan, Salman Rushdie, Nayantara Sahgal, Amitav Ghosh, Arundhati Roy, and Vikram Seth.

This Omnibus edition brings together four classic works on Hinduism by renowned scholars, providing the liturgical, historical, anthropological, and individualist's interpretation of the religion. With an introduction by T.N. Madan, this volume will make an excellent and very comprehensive collector's item on the subject of Hinduism.

From the mid-nineteenth century onwards, railways became increasingly important in the lives of a growing number of Indians. While allowing millions to collectively experience the endemic discomforts of third-class travel, the public opportunities for proximity and contact created by railways simultaneously compelled colonial society to confront questions about exclusion, difference, and community. It was not only passengers, however, who were affected by the transformations that railways wrought. Even without boarding a train, one could see railway tracks and embankments reshaping familiar landscapes, realise that train schedules represented new temporal structures, fear that spreading railway links increased the reach of contagion, and participate in new forms of popular politics focused around railway spaces. Tracks of Change explores how railway technology, travel, and infrastructure became increasingly woven into everyday life in colonial India, how people negotiated with the growing presence of railways, and how this process has shaped India's history.

The Bhagavadgita has lent itself to several readings to defend or contest various views on life, morality, and metaphysics. This book explores the the role of the Bhagavadgita in the formation of nationalist discourse. It examines the ways in which the Gita became the central terrain of nationalist contestation, and the diverse ethico-moral mappings of the Indian nation. Focusing on Bankimchandra Chatterjee, Balgangadhar Tilak, Swami Vivekananda, Aurobindo Ghose, Mahatma Gandhi, Vinoba Bhave, and B.R. Ambedkar as the representatives of different strands of nationalist discourse, this volume probes their reflections on the Gita. The author also discusses with issues such as the relation between the nation and the masses, renunciation and engagement with the world, the ideas of equality, freedom, and common good, in the context of a nationalist discourse. He argues that the commentaries on this 'timeless' text opened up several possible understandings without necessarily eliminating one another.

As they seek to explore evolving and conflicting ideas of nationhood and modernity, India's writers have often chosen forests as the dramatic setting for stories of national identity. India's Forests, Real and Imagined explores how these settings have been integral to India's sense of national consciousness. Alan Johnson demonstrates that modern writers have drawn on older Indian literary traditions of the forest as a place of exile, trial and danger to shape new ideas of India as a modern nation. The book casts new light on a wide range of modern writers, from Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay – widely regarded as the first Indian novelist – to contemporary authors such as Amitav Ghosh, Arundhati Roy, and Salman Rushdie as well as local attitudes to nationhood and the environment across the country.