In 1985 there was a petition against the Quran in the High Court of Calcutta. In 2011 there was a similar petition against Bhagavad Gita in Russia. Again in 2021 a petition was filed in the Supreme Court of India against 26 verses of the Quran. In this book the author brings out that these petitions are a part of a broader strategy to malign religion and to create dissension in society. The book concludes with an appeal to all responsible persons to stand up for Justice and to contribute their might in combating communalism.

The Valley of Kashmir, long famous around the world for its unparalleled natural scenic beauty also has a rich cultural heritage with religious tolerance and amity among people belonging to different religious faiths as its core. The arrival of Islam in the late fourteenth century and its interaction with an ancient Shaiva tradition resulted in the emergence of a liberal version of the faith. It was a turning point in Kashmir's history. Popular culture grew rich with folk tale, song, dance and music and with what craftsman could weave, stitch and shape with their nimble fingers. When self-rule came in 1947, it was overshadowed by armed intervention to secure the accession of the state of Jammu & Kashmir to Pakistan. The dispute over the issue is still unresolved. Within the Valley, years of opportunistic policies pursued by Delhi and corruption and misgovernance by Srinagar proved to be fertile soil for the eruption of a violent, jehadi, secessionist movement around 1980 that drove the Hindu minority into exile, tore apart the composite culture, and resulted in large scale loss of life and property. There are signs visible today that the utter futility of the path of violence, which engendered counter violence, has dawned on some of its votaries. These and other issues are addressed in this volume by a galaxy of scholars, including Kashmiris, from India, France, Germany, the UK and the USA under the thoughtful editorship of Aparna Rao who, sadly, died before the work could be placed with a publisher. Throughout the preparation of this volume, Rao worked in consultation with Professor T.N. Madan. The result is a book rich in information, insights and interpretations that entitle it to stand alongside Walter Lawrence's classic work, The Valley of Kashmir (1985), from which its title is borrowed.

This book is an extensive critical study of the mystical poetry of Nund Rishi (1378-1440), the founder of the Kashmiri Sufi order called the Rishi Order, who is revered and remembered by most Kashmiris as 'Alamdār-e Kashmir or the flag-bearer of Kashmir. The author breaks with dominant perceptions of Nund Rishi as a quietistic Sufi and argues that the themes of Islam, Death, the Nothing and the Apocalyptic in his poetry are a form of negative theology. Nund Rishi's negative theology is presented as a discourse on the transcendent which relies on negations rather than affirmations that disclose an existential politics. It explores Nund Rishi's mystical poetry not only within its historical context but also in relation to religious and political controversies in medieval Kashmir. The book locates the negative theology of Nund Rishi as one form, among others, of the 'negative path' across regions in the medieval Indo-Persian world.

In The Foundations of the Composite Culture in India, the focus of the author is the process of establishment of Hindu-Muslim unity as a result of historical, social and cultural factors over a period of ten centuries. Traversing this era, he reveals how the Muslim rulers contributed to such harmony and how the two cultures exchanged and accepted each other's tenets to enrich and formulate a composite Indian culture. To explore the foundations on which the complex culture of India rests, the author examines the contribution of Sufism which inherently connotes syncretism and tolerance, as well as the simultaneous rise of the Bhakti movement in medieval India. This title is co-published with Aakar Books. Print editions not for sale in South Asia (India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Bhutan)