Frits Staal
For the last two decades, if not more, the Vedas have been in the news for all the wrong reasons, at the epicenter of discussions and debates that have been contentious, polemical and occasionally violent.
Reviewed by: Kumkum Roy
Upinder Singh
Structured into ten chapters, the book starts off with features of the main physiographic zones of the subcontinent, periodization, and changing interpretations of early Indian history. The first chapter constitutes a detailed discussion of literary and archaeological sources.
Reviewed by: Rajan Gurukkal
Indu Sunderesan
Cast firmly in the ‘Raj novel’ mould, The Splendor of Silence is set in the fictional state of Rudrakot, during the pre-Independence period. The author, Indu Sunderesan, blends history with romance in this fairly readable novel.
Reviewed by: Sanam Khanna
Aravind Adiga
THE WHITE TIGER
2008
2008
Descriptions of India are never complete; for some, she is a glass half full, while for others, a glass half empty. Adiga’s book is about the millions in India for whom the glass is always completely empty nor is there any hope that it ever will have any water!
Reviewed by: Amit Dasgupta
Suryakant Tripathi Nirala
To many belonging to the ever increasing tribe of the privileged globalized Indians, who are already addicted to reading only the latest multinationally mediated, media-hyped, narratives of India in English such as,
Reviewed by: Sudhir Kumar
Ramesh Gajanan Muktibodh and Ashok Vajpeyi
In his preface to this book, Ashok Vajpeyi characterizes Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh as a Hindi poet who earned ‘posthumous pre-eminence’. Therein hangs a tale in this cryptic phrase, indeed a modern literary saga, which is known to all in Hindi but may need explaining in English.
Reviewed by: Harish Trivedi