Deep within an inner cave (guhahitam) of our existence remains our potential Divinity. It is the place where our reflected sentient being (the First Bird) is trying to probe into to recover the hidden sun. The allegory is evident in the parable of the Cave once preached by the Upanishads and later by the Greek philosopher Plato. The probe is to push forward the First Bird to surge higher in the resplendent celestial blue under the full radiance of the Solar world, which is the Second, resulting in an explosion of an infinite all-pervading Divinity. Till the union and the rapture is attained, there are the two Birds – one, the psychic being, which is within us and the other one, which is the direct portion of the Divine. The direct portion is constantly trying to guide and work within us, so that evolution goes on and on. In the words of Sri Aurobindo, it is the Çhaitya Purusha, the direct portion of the Divine in the human, which is working incessantly till the rapture is activated. Ancient roots are evident in the ancient Swetaswatara Upanishad hailed by the primordial Sage Kapila and coded originally in a later text called the Bhagabat Purana, The Çhaitya Purusha is also the being that is behind the Chitta, Sri Aurobindo says. Millenniums later, the inspired Architects in the most ancient of all Buddhist ages had carved out the sacred idea in form of rock-cut expressions called the Chaitya hall. As the Mahayana Sutra of the foremost Shurangama at the Crown of the Great Buddha says: …the way of practicing the Samadhi is not singular and its actual method of cultivation depends upon the functioning of mind and mental concomitants (Citta-Chaitya pravritti) of each being and their interconnectedness (Mahat)… It is in the recovery or a re-tracing of the two as a DIVINITY that is originally ONE, an individual's journey called evolution and a collective journey called civilization itself are sustained. It is also from the deeper embedded patterns of this journey the gems of the system's foundation can be quarried.

This book examines key aspects of the history, philosophy, and culture of science in India, especially as they may be comprehended in the larger idea of an Indian civilization. The authors, drawn from a range of disciplines, discuss a wide array of issues — scientism and religious dogma, dialectics of faith and knowledge, science under colonial conditions, science and study of grammar, western science and classical systems of logic, metaphysics and methodology, and science and spirituality in the Mahabharata. This collection of essays aims to evolve a framework in which science, culture, and society in India may be studied fruitfully across disciplines and historical periods. With its diverse themes and original approaches, the book will be of interest to scholars and researchers in the fields of the history and philosophy of science, science and religion, cultural studies and colonial studies, philosophy and history, as well as India studies and South Asian studies.

This volume examines the multifarious dimensions that constitute the workings of the Hindu temple as an architectural and urban built form. Eleven chapters reflect on Hindu temples from multiple standpoints - tracing their elusive evolution from wayside shrines as well as canonization into classical objects; questioning the role of treatises containing their building rules; analyzing their prescribed proportions and orders; examining their presence in, and as, larger sacred habitats and ritua...

This book deals with issues and concerns for the human environment in the developing countries incorporating natural processes and systems, pollution removal technology, energy conservation, environmental impact assessment process, economics, culture, political structure and societal equity from a management point of view. Solutions to the emerging problems of the environment need a paradigmatic shift in approach from a process based model to a socio-political-economic model. Hence environmental management should involve equality and control over use of the finite natural resources and the balance between Earth’s biocapacity and humanity’s ecological footprint. Changes such as green technologies, human population stabilization and adoption of ecologically harmonious lifestyles are absolutely essential and will require redesigning of political institutions, policies and revisiting forgotten skills of sustainable practices of environmental management. These challenges should centre on environment governance using the concepts of common property, equity and security. This book is relevant for academics, professionals, administrators and policy makers who are concerned with various aspects of environment management and governance.

Winner of the Environmental Design Research Association's 2018 Achievement Award The pluralism of South Asia belies any singular reading of its heritage. In spite of this diversity, its cultural traditions retain certain attributes that are at their core South Asian—in their capacity to self‐organize, enact and reinvent cultural memories, and in their ability to retain an intimate connection with nature and landscape. This volume focuses on the notion of cultural landscape as a medium integrating multiple forms of heritage and points to a new paradigm for conservation practices in the South Asian context. Even though the construct of cultural landscape has been accepted as a category of heritage, its potent use in heritage management in general and within the South Asian context in particular has not been widely studied. The volume challenges the prevalent views of heritage management in South Asia that are entrenched in colonial legacies and contemporary global policy frameworks.

Rural development is important for the nation's socio‐economic upliftment. It is the process of improving the economic conditions and upgradation of physical and social infrastructure in rural areas. In India, 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992, has recognised Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) as the third tier of governance and given them the constitutional mandate for bringing improvements in the lives of people living in rural settlements. Yet, the rural settlements are not getting developed as per the expectations of rural population. Rural development is either totally ignored or given less preference as compared to the urban development.Regional Planner is entrusted with the responsibility to prepare a plan integrating rural and urban settlements. For rural settlements, either a plan does not exist or it has been prepared without detailed sectoral, spatial and financial planning. For urban settlements, though master plans do exists yet they have not been made for all the towns. In the absence ofnationwide efforts to prepare regional plans for achieving the balanced regional development as per the constitutional mandate, there is an increase in region‐wide disparities between rural and urban settlement.Earlier studies have focused on comprehending different nuances of rural life by studying employment opportunities, provision of basic infrastructure, quality of life, disparity between urban and rural areas, etc. There is a lack of comprehensive study to systematically understand the relationship between rural and urban settlements, access and availability of amenities in rural areas and provide suggestions to bring improvement in the living conditions of rural habitat so as to make it a model village. The book fills this gap by imparting an understanding of the rurality in a highly urbanised district and suggesting ways to transform a village into a model village.With the help of extensive quantitative and qualitative data collected from varied tiers of governance, i.e. state, district, tahsil, block and village, the book highlights the problems existing in the rural settlements and analyses the potentials to make it an ideal settlement having provision of urban amenities.