The Viikyapadiya of Bhartrhari and the Pramii1Jasamuccaya of Dignaga • are seminal texts in the history of ancient Indian philosophy. One text deals with grammar, the other with logic, both are the work of committed metaphysicians. Written within a span of less than a hundred years, between the fifth and the sixth centuries A.D., these texts have generally been treated separately, as representing independent schools of thought. This essay attempts to interpret these texts jointly, as a dialogue between a grammarian and a logician. This way of approaching these texts highlights unexpected facets of Bhartrhari's and Dignaga's theories of language and is intended to identify the individual achievements of each. Above all, this treatment is an exercise in writing the intellectual history of a period in time, rather than a history of a school of philosophy. The prevailing view of Bhartrhari holds that his linguistic techniques are not intrinsic to his metaphysics. The conclusions reached in the present essay are that Bhartrhari's metaphysics underlie his linguistic techniques and articulate their presuppositions. The prevailing view of Dignaga maintains that for him language deals with illusory entities and must falsify what is real. The conclusions reached in the present essay are that Dignaga's logical rules are designed to ensure that in using language one is not committed to a belief in fictional entities. My debt to modern scholarship in the field is considerable.

India’s Shakespeare: Translation, Interpretation and Performance is ideal for English literature, performance, translation studies. This collection of essays examines the diverse aspects of Shakespeare's interaction with India, since two hundred years ago when the British first introduced him here. While the study of Shakespeare was an imperial imposition, the performance of Shakespeare was not. Shakespeare, translated and adapted on the commercial stage during the late nineteenth century was widely successful; and remains to this day, the most published and performed western author in India. The important role Shakespeare has played in allowing cultures to speak with each other forms the center of this volume with contributions examining presence of Shakespeare in both colonial and post-colonial India. The essays discuss the several contexts in which Shakespeare was read, taught, translated, performed, and absorbed into the cultural fabric of India. The introduction details the history of this induction, its shifts and developments and its corresponding critical discourse in India and the west. This collection of essays, emerging from first hand experience, is presented from a variety of critical positions, performative, textual, historicist, feminist and post-colonialist, as befits the range of the subject.

India's history and culture is ancient and dynamic, spanning back to the beginning of human civilization. Beginning with a mysterious culture along the Indus River and in farming communities in the southern lands of India, the history of India is punctuated by constant integration with migrating peoples and with the diverse cultures that surround the country. Placed in the center of Asia, history in India is a crossroads of cultures from China to Europe, as well as the most significant Asian connection with the cultures of Africa. The Historical Dictionary of Ancient India provides information ranging from the earliest Paleolithic cultures in the Indian subcontinent to 1000 CE. The ancient history of this country is related in this book through a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on rulers, bureaucrats, ancient societies, religion, gods, and philosophical ideas.

This is a collection of 46 essays by specialists in Asian literature, who offer a wide range of possibilities for introducing Asian literature to English-speaking students. It is intended to help in promoting multicultural education.