Some six centuries ago, waves of families from one of the most conservative communities of the Cauvery basin took the remarkable decision to migrate across the peninsula to an un-known land. What drove them from the comforts and privileges of life in Thanjavur? What drew them to the wooded banks of a river on the other side of the mountains? What did they find when they arrived? What kind of life did they build? From Cauvery to Neela tells the history of the Tamil agraharams along the Neela River in Palakkad. In crisp and readable prose, the author sketches a community dedicated to scriptur-al tradition and traces its forays over time into politics, science and the arts. Like all perpetual students of human history, he also looks into the future—what does it hold for the ever-changing agraharams and their people?

This reference work covers the cuisine and foodways of India in all their diversity and complexity, including regions, personalities, street foods, communities and topics that have been often neglected. The book starts with an overview essay situating the Great Indian Table in relation to its geography, history and agriculture, followed by alphabetically organized entries. The entries, which are between 150 and 1,500 words long, combine facts with history, anecdotes, and legends. They are supplemented by longer entries on key topics such as regional cuisines, spice mixtures, food and medicine, rites of passages, cooking methods, rice, sweets, tea, drinks (alcoholic and soft) and the Indian diaspora. This comprehensive volume illuminates contemporary Indian cooking and cuisine in tradition and practice.

The Tamil Brahmans were a traditional, mainly rural, high-caste elite who have been transformed into a modern, urban, middle-class community since the late nineteenth century. Many Tamil Brahmans today are in professional and managerial occupations, such as engineering and information technology; most of them live in Chennai and other Tamilnadu towns, but others have migrated to the rest of India and overseas. This book, which is mainly based on the authors ethnographic research, describes and analyses this transformation. It is also a study of how and why the Tamil Brahmans privileged status within a hierarchical society has been perpetuated in the face of both a strong anti-Brahman movement in Tamilnadu, and a series of wider social, cultural, economic, political, and ideological changes that might have been expected to undermine their position completely. The major topics discussed include Brahman rural society, urban migration and urban ways of life, education and employment, the position of women, and religion and culture. The Tamil Brahmans class position, including the internal division into the upper- and lower-middle classes, and the process of class reproduction, are examined closely to analyze the congruence between Tamil Brahmanhood and middle classness, which as comparison with other Brahman and non-Brahman groups shows is highly unusual in contemporary India."

"Introduction to various pilgrim centres, sacerd shrines, and holy sites in India."

His first book Srimad Valmiki Ramayanam in English is a truthful but concise reproduction of the original work in Sanskrit by Sage Valmiki. It is a well-known Indian epic. His second book Ramayana Th oomanigal in Tamil is an elaborate research work on the role of twelve characters of Valmiki Ramayanam. His third work is Mahabharathathil Krishnan in Tamil dealing with the role of Lord Krishna in Mahabharatham, another great Indian epic. His fourth book is Kamban Kanum Th irumal in Tamil . He has chosen three hundred and seventy five wonderful verses from the well-known Tamil masterpiece Kamba Ramayanam, in which the great poet Kamban depicts Rama, a man, as Lord Vishnu, the God. These verses are based on a very rich background in Tamil literature. The present work Pure Gems of Ramayanam is an English translation of his Ramayana Th oomanigal in Tamil, the second book written by him. It is a research work on the twelve characters of Valmiki Ramayanam.