While William Carey’s name is etched in the history of missionary activity in India, arguably little is known about Hannah Marshman, who worked alongside her missionary husband, Joshua Marshman, as well as Carey. Similarly, Mary Ann Cooke, the first ‘unmarried’ woman sent to do missionary work in India, has had few biographers.
The Cambridge Companion to Sayyid Ahmad Khan, published on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Sayyid Ahmad Khan (1817-98), fittingly includes contributions by historians, political scientists, literature scholars, and a specialist in religious studies.
There are histories of India, and then occasionally we have histories of south India. Histories of India tend to be, to a great extent, about regions of the subcontinent lying north of the Deccan plateau and the Vindhyas. Depending on the period of Indian history being considered, a conscientious scholar might take into account some significant developments in the south, but the overall narrative is likely to focus on the Ganga plains and the north-west.
In this timely book, The Verdict: Decoding India’s Elections, India’s original, most popular, and respected pollsters, Prannoy Roy and Dorab R Sopariwala unpack their story of elections in the world’s largest democracy. Spiced with anecdotes from the field and bits of dry humour, this deftly crafted, superbly researched volume presents ‘the characteristics, the experience, and the lessons learned from watching and studying Indian elections over the last seven decades.’
The Queen of Jasmine Country brings to us a unique experience of sensuality and spirituality coursing through Kodhai, as she stands delicately poised on the cusp of womanhood. It is an old story made new in retelling, poetic in expression, languorous with longing.
Dharma, artha, kama and moksha are the four purusharthas in Hindu philosophy. A purushartha is an object of human pursuit or a purpose of a human being. Gurcharan Das has written about artha (India Unbound) and dharma (The Difficulty of Being Good). Now, he has written about kama–perhaps the biggest challenge of his career as a writer.