And below her hair; she would put on a garland and spend a few minutes just gazing into a pond; seeing her reflection and satisfying her desire before turning away and returning the worn garland to her flower basket The emperor Krishnadevaraya’s epic poem Amuktamalyada (Giver of the Worn Garland) depicts the life of the medieval Vaisnava poet-saint Andal; or Goda Devi as she is also known; and her passionate devotion to Lord Visnu. Krishnadevaraya’s unique poetic imagination brings to life a celestial world filled with wonder; creativity; humour and vibrant natural beauty. The mundane is made divine and the ordinary becomes extraordinary; the routine activities of daily life become expressive metaphors for heavenly actions; while the exalted gods of heaven are re-imagined as living persons. The poet’s ability to see divinity in the most commonplace activities is an extension of his powerful belief that god is everywhere; in everything; at all times.

"In 1509 Krishnadevaraya, a prince from humble origins, ascended the throne of Vijayanagara. The empire he inherited was weak from two messy dynastic successions, and ambitious enemy kings loomed large on all sides--a haughty king of Orissa in the east, five upstart Deccan sultans to the north, revolting Tamil rajas in the south and enterprising Portuguese soldiers from the west. But Krishnadevaraya quickly rose to the challenge, and in the course of his remarkable twenty-year reign, he changed history forever. He won every single battle he fought and unified the whole of south India under his banner. Krishnadevaraya is remembered today as one of India’s greatest kings, not only because of his successes on the battlefield or the dazzling splendour of his empire, but because he was India’s first truly global leader. He had to confront very modern problems, such as building international alliances and negotiating overseas trade deals, while grappling with the challenges of globalism and multiculturalism. The Deccan of his time was a cosmopolitan place where Hindus and Muslims, north Indians and south Indians, Persians and Portuguese, all intermingled as they made their lives and fortunes. This cultural dynamism also inspired Krishnadevaraya to look back at India’s past and reflect on her histories and traditions. As a philosopher-king who was also a celebrated poet in his own right, he presided over an Indian renaissance, when ancient texts and traditions were reinvigorated and infused with a fresh and modern vitality. Five hundred years after Krishnadevaraya’s death, he is still remembered and loved as a compassionate and wise king, one who is immortalized in films and folk tales, poems and ballads. This fascinating and riveting book is meticulously researched and beautifully written. Based on Portuguese and Persian chronicles, as well as many overlooked Telugu literary sources, Raya is the definitive biography of one of the world’s greatest leaders"--Front dust jacket flap.

For all of India’s myths, stories and moral epics, Indian history remains a curiously unpeopled place. In Incarnations, Sunil Khilnani fills that space, recapturing the human dimension of how the world’s largest democracy came to be. His trenchant portraits of emperors, warriors, philosophers, film stars and corporate titans—some famous, some unjustly forgotten—bring feeling, wry humour and uncommon insight to dilemmas that extend from ancient times to our own.

This book is a translation and study of the poems of a ninth-century woman saint and mystic. The Introduction is designed to make the translations accessible to a non-specialist audience, while the Notes provide insights into the poems and useful explications of allusions and convention with which readers who do not possess a specialized knowledge of Tamil Vaisnava bhakti may be unfamiliar.

How do we define India? In historical terms, India originates in the Indus River Valley today on Pakistani territory. In cultural and religious terms, India was home to Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism among others, and sheltered the Zoroastrians from the Persian lands to the west, as well as the place where Islam flourished since the 7th century through Gujarat and Sind in northwest India. In geographical terms the country since 1947 is bordered to the north with Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and China. With ex-Burma, today Myanmar, to the east. Also the proximity to the island of Sri Lanka to the south. Or would India be its enormous diaspora community in the world estimated at more than 30 million? Is India simply Hindu that makes up almost 80% of its population? If so, would the Hindus be only the Brahmins or the Vishunists or Shivitists, or the other popular currents? And the large Hindu communities in Nepal, Mauritius, Bali and other parts of the world? Are they India as well? And the approximately 14% of the Indian population claiming to be Muslims, around 172 million people, the second largest Muslim community in the world, are not they also Indians? And the Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains and Christian community in India? In linguistic terms, India has more than 20 official languages, more than 1,500 dialects and ethnic groups. Who would be more Indian than the others? The concept of India, therefore, is much more complex than it seems to be at first glance. In order to understand this stunning and kaleidoscopic region, we must seek its history that may give us some insight into how India has formed, consolidated, influenced and assimilated its policies, identities, values and cultures. In short, India is perhaps much more a civilizational concept than a mere expression defined only in geographical, religious and ethnic terms.

One of the most unconventional yet immensely popular deities in the Hindu pantheon, goddess Kali essentially represents the dark and contrary aspects of the cosmos. Her naked form and association with violence, blood and gore challenge the very concept of divinity. Yet, over the centuries, she has come to represent a whole gamut of conflicting images-from bloodthirsty ogress to benign goddess. So today while she is venerated as Chamunda, a deity who verges on the macabre and grotesque, she is also adored in household shrines in one of her milder forms, Dakshina-Kali. It is this evolution of Kali-from her origin as a tantric goddess to her metamorphosis into a divinity in mainstream religion-that Seema Mohanty captures brilliantly in this book. Drawing upon a variety of sources-rituals associated with the worship of Kali, tales from the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Puranas, the Tantras and Agamas, folklore and films-she has succeeded in portraying in engrossing detail the myriad manifestations of the enigmatic deity that is Kali.

A riddle is a mystery concealed in words, each a clue you must unravel. In this book, it is also a piece of verse, part of the puzzle that is the fascinating life of Amir Khusrau. Gloriously illustrated, crafted with care and sprinkled with delightful snippets of history, Amir Khusrau’s Book of Riddles is guaranteed to bewilder, inform and entertain children and adults alike. Work your way through the riddles on your own or challenge a friend, or just read on for the answer and a peek into the thoughts of one of this enigmatic poet, mystic and musician.