Download or read book Panchali s Pledge written by Subramania Bharati and published by Hachette India. This book was released on 2013-02-10 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Honoured at a public function when he was a mere boy of eleven with the title 'Bharati' (one blessed by Saraswati, the Goddess of Learning), C. Subramania Bharati (1882-1921) is renowned as the herald of the renaissance in Tamil literature. The simplicity and lyricism that marked his poetry reflect a clear shift in sensibility and craft from the classical tradition, which had adhered to strictures of style, imagery and language for over 2000 years. Panchali's Pledge is the English translation of Bharati's seminal work, Panchali Sabadham, which reimagines the pivotal Game of Dice incident in the Mahabharata, where coerced into playing a game of dice by Duryodhana and Sakuni, Yudhisthira, the eldest of the Pandavas, stakes and loses his kingdom, his wealth, his brothers and finally Draupadi, leading to her disrobing and her rescue by the divine intervention of Lord Krishna. Enraged at the quiet indifference of those present in the assembly at her plight, Draupadi finally takes a pledge to avenge her ignominy with the blood of the Kauravas. Bharati wrote and published the first of the two-part minor epic in 1912 while living in the French territory of Pondicherry to escape British persecution. It was intended as a political allegory to the ongoing freedom movement and as an affirmation of the latent power in women. Usha Rajagopalan's translation seeks to complement what Bharati himself set out to do with the original text: to 'create an epic using simple phrases, a simple style, easily understood prosody and rhythm which the common man appreciates.'

Download or read book Aparajito written by Bibhūtibhūshaṇa Bandyopādhyāẏa and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 1999 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Aparajito Is The Sequel To Pather Panchali, Bibhutibushan Bandopadhyay'S Best Known Novel. In Pather Panchali The Story Revolves Around Harihar Roy, His Wife Sabajya, Daughter Durga And Son Apu Whose Vision Of The Future Remains Positive. Aparajito Carries Forward This Vision Through Apu'S Adolescence And Youth. The Story Takes The Reader Through Apu'S School Days At The Village. His Thirst For Knowledge And An Insatiable Desire To See The World Drive Him To The City And He Joins College For Higher Education. For The First Time In His Life He Has To Battle Not Just Poverty But Also The Complexities Of Human Relationships And Other Harsh Realities Of Life, Without Support Or Assistance From Anywhere. After His Mother'S Death, A Tragic Marriage And Years Of Carefree Living, Apu Finally Realises His Responsibilities And Returns To His Roots Accompanied By His Like-Minded Son, Kajal.

Download or read book Pather Panchali written by Bibhūtibhūshaṇa Bandyopādhyāẏa and published by . This book was released on 1969 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Legendary Classic Of Bengali Fiction. Made Into An Award Winning Film By Satyajit Ray.

Download or read book Until the Lions written by Karthika Nair and published by Archipelago. This book was released on 2019-11-12 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A dazzling and eloquent reworking of the Mahabharata, one of South Asia's best-loved epics, through nineteen peripheral voices. With daring poetic forms, Karthika Naïr breathes new life into this ancient epic. Karthika Naïr refracts the epic Mahabharata through the voices of nameless soldiers, outcast warriors and handmaidens as well as abducted princesses, tribal queens, and a gender-shifting god. As peripheral figures and silent catalysts take center stage, we get a glimpse of lives and stories buried beneath the dramas of god and nation, heroics and victory - of the lives obscured by myth and history, all too often interchangeable. Until the Lions is a kaleidoscopic, poetic tour de force. It reveals the most intimate threads of desire, greed, and sacrifice in this foundational epic.

Download or read book The Zoo in My Backyard written by Usha Rajagopalan and published by Manipal Universal Press. This book was released on 2020-08-01 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What can you expect in a family of quirky adults, hyperactive children, and an assortment of pets? The author and her siblings shared their childhood with Kesavan, the incorrigibly curious black monkey; Judie, the nimble giant squirrel; Mini, the shy mouse deer that strayed; Psitta, the cackling parakeet; Devil, the runaway hound and many more creatures great and small. The adventures of the children and antics of their pets, together with the adults in the family make for a whole lot of fun and laughter - not just in the backyard but indoors as well.

Download or read book The Mahabharata written by and published by Penguin Books India. This book was released on 2010 with total page 624 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Mahabharata is one of the greatest stories ever told. Though the basic plot is widely known, there is much more to the epic than the dispute between Kouravas and Pandavas that led to the battle in Kurukshetra. It has innumerable sub-plots that accommodate fascinating meanderings and digressions, and it has rarely been translated in full, given its formidable length of 80,000 shlokas or couplets. This magnificent 10- volume unabridged translation of the epic is based on the Critical Edition compiled at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute. The fourth volume of the Mahabharata includes Virata Parva and almost all of Udyoga Parva. It describes the Pandavas thirteenth year of exile which they spend in disguise in King Virata s court. When, during their stay, the Kouravas and Trigartas invade Matsya to rob Virata of his cattle, the Pandavas defeat them in battle. With the period of banishment over, the Pandavas ask to be returned their share of the kingdom. This is refused and Udyoga Parva recounts the preparations for the inevitable war. Every conceivable human emotion figures in the Mahabharata, the reason why the epic continues to hold sway over our imagination. In this lucid, nuanced and confident translation, Bibek Debroy makes the Mahabharata marvellously accessible to contemporary readers.

Download or read book Indian Sun written by Oliver Craske and published by Hachette Books. This book was released on 2020-04-07 with total page 653 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of Library Journal's "Best Arts Books of 2020" The definitive biography of Ravi Shankar, one of the most influential musicians and composers of the twentieth century, told with the cooperation of his estate, family, and friends For over eight decades, Ravi Shankar was India's greatest cultural ambassador. He was a groundbreaking performer and composer of Indian classical music, who brought the music and rich culture of India to the world's leading concert halls and festivals, charting the map for those who followed in his footsteps. Renowned for playing Monterey Pop, Woodstock, and the Concert for Bangladesh-and for teaching George Harrison of The Beatles how to play the sitar-Shankar reshaped the musical landscape of the 1960s across pop, jazz, and classical music, and composed unforgettable scores for movies like Pather Panchali and Gandhi. In Indian Sun: The Life and Music of Ravi Shankar, writer Oliver Craske presents readers with the first full portrait of this legendary figure, revealing the personal and professional story of a musician who influenced-and continues to influence-countless artists. Craske paints a vivid picture of a captivating, restless workaholic-from his lonely and traumatic childhood in Varanasi to his youthful stardom in his brother's dance troupe, from his intensive study of the sitar to his revival of India's national music scene. Shankar's musical influence spread across both genres and generations, and he developed close friendships with John Coltrane, Philip Glass, Yehudi Menuhin, George Harrison, and Benjamin Britten, among many others. For ninety-two years, Shankar lived an endlessly colorful and creative life, a life defined by musical, emotional, and spiritual quests-and his legacy lives on. Benefiting from unprecedented access to Shankar's archives, and drawing on new interviews with over 130 subjects-including his second wife and both of his daughters, Norah Jones and Anoushka Shankar- Indian Sun gives readers unparalleled insight into a man who transformed modern music as we know it today.

Download or read book Parva written by Es. El Bhairappa and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 860 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It Is A Transformation Of An Ancient Legend Into A Modern Novel. In This Process, It Has Gained Rational Credibility And A Human Perspective. The Main Incident, The Bharata War, Symbolic Of The Birthpangs Of A New World-Order, Depicts A Heroic But Vain Effort To Arrest The Disintegration And Continue The Prevailing Order. It Is Viewed From The Stand Points Of The Partisan Participants And Judged With Reference To The Objective Understanding Of Krishna. Narration, Dialogue, Monologue And Comment All Are Employed For Its Presentation. Shot Through With Irony, Pity And Understanding Objectivity, The Novel Ends With The True Tragic Vision Of Faith In Life And Hope For Mankind.

Download or read book Ahalya written by Koral Dasgupta and published by Pan Macmillan. This book was released on 2020-08-20 with total page 117 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘Lyrical and poetic ... enthralling’ BIBEK DEBROY ‘A magical and thought-provoking adventure, Ahalya will intrigue and mesmerize readers’ CHITRA BANERJEE DIVAKARUNI ‘An enigmatic tale about purity, chastity, seduction and redemption’ NAMITA GOKHALE ‘Brilliant and intriguing’ ANAND NEELAKANTAN It is known that Ahalya was cursed by her husband, Gautam, for indulging in a physical relationship with Indra. But is there another story to Ahalya's truth? Who was Indra anyway? A king? A lover? A philanderer? The first book of the Sati series, Ahalya hinges on these core questions, narrating the course of her life, from innocence to infidelity. In the Sati series, Koral Dasgupta explores the lives of the Pancha Kanyas from Indian mythology, all of whom had partners other than their husbands and yet are revered as the most enlightened women, whose purity of mind precedes over the purity of body. The five books of the Sati series reinvent these women and their men, in the modern context with a feminist consciousness.

Download or read book My Years with Apu written by Satyajit Ray and published by Penguin Books India. This book was released on 2020-04-20 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The absorbing story of how one of the greatest directors of our time began his film-making career 'Ray's fascinating account of how he made the (Apu) trilogy and how his passion for cinema was first kindled.' -India Today 'Written in an impeccable style it brings back memories of an era when film-making was an art born out of a love for the medium and not merely a means to make money. -Sunday Mail 'My Years With Apu prompts wistful thoughts of those other books, the other Ray masterpieces that remained unwritten at the time of the director's death.' -Indian Review of Books 'A swift, detailed, precise narrative...the story and its many links still retain, as a powerful myth of artistic genesis, their freshness, and may have acquired a new significance with the passing of time.' -The Telegraph

Download or read book Draupadi Fire Born Princess written by Saraswati Nagpal and published by Campfire. This book was released on 2013-04-02 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A mysterious prophecy resounds, and the bewitchingly beautiful princess Draupadi arises from the sacred fire in Panchala. Draupadi the princess is in love with Arjuna, the Pandava prince. But fate weaves strange events, and Draupadi finds herself wedded to five men--Arjuna and his four Pandava brothers. Draupadi's life is complicated further by the Kauravas--her husbands' wicked cousins--who try everything in their power to harm her and the Pandavas. As the fiery princess Draupadi's terrible destiny begins to unfold, she goes from majestic queen with five warrior husbands to a poor servant girl. Evil waits around every corner and a terrible war looms overhead. Will the impulsive Draupadi brave the humiliation destiny has written for her? Will she lose everything she has loved? Adapted from the ancient Indian epic, the Mahabharata, this is the story of an astonishingly outspoken woman, who is abandoned at every turn, and forced to make the difficult choice between revenge and compassion.

Download or read book Yajnaseni written by Pratibhā Rāẏa and published by Rupa Publications India Pvt Limited. This book was released on 1995 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pratibha Ray makes a determined effort for a portrayal of the epic character and brings to the surface the broader and deeper aspects of Draupadi s mind that lay submerged in the majestic sweep of the grand Mahabharata. The novel won her the Bharatiya Jnanpith s prestigious ninth Moortidevi Award in 1993.

Download or read book Draupadi written by Saiswaroopa Iyer and published by Rupa Publications India Pvt Limited. This book was released on 2019 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The life of a princess raised by a loving father and three doting brothers would seem like a bed of roses to any woman. But born out of sacred fire, Draupadi is no ordinary woman, and her destiny cannot be to walk the beaten path. Witnessing estrangement and betrayal within her own family makes her perceptive and intuitive beyond her years. A complicated marital relationship, a meteoric rise and a fateful loss, humiliation unheard of and a pledge of revenge, all culminating in a bloody warher o

Download or read book The Palace of Illusions written by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2009-02-10 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Taking us back to a time that is half history, half myth and wholly magical, bestselling author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni gives voice to Panchaali, the fire-born heroine of the Mahabharata, as she weaves a vibrant retelling of an ancient epic saga. Married to five royal husbands who have been cheated out of their father's kingdom, Panchaali aids their quest to reclaim their birthright, remaining at their side through years of exile and a terrible civil war. But she cannot deny her complicated friendship with the enigmatic Krishna—or her secret attraction to the mysterious man who is her husbands' most dangerous enemy—as she is caught up in the ever-manipulating hands of fate.

Download or read book Many Mah bh ratas written by Nell Shapiro Hawley and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2021-05-01 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many Mahābhāratas is an introduction to the spectacular and long-lived diversity of Mahābhārata literature in South Asia. This diversity begins with the Sanskrit Mahābhārata, an early epic poem that narrates the events of a catastrophic fratricidal war. Along the way, it draws in nearly everything else in Hindu mythology, philosophy, and story literature. The magnitude of its scope and the relentless complexity of its worldview primed the Mahābhārata for uncountable tellings in South Asia and beyond. For two thousand years, the instinctive approach to the Mahābhārata has been not to consume it but to create it anew. The many Mahābhāratas of this book come from the first century to the twenty-first. They are composed in nine different languages—Apabhramsha, Bengali, English, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Sanskrit, Tamil, and Telugu. Early chapters illuminate themes of retelling within the Sanskrit Mahābhārata itself, demonstrating that the story's propensity for regeneration emerges from within. The majority of the book, however, reaches far beyond the Sanskrit epic. Readers dive into classical dramas, premodern vernacular poems, regional performance traditions, commentaries, graphic novels, political essays, novels, and contemporary theater productions—all of them Mahābhāratas. Because of its historical and linguistic breadth, its commitment to primary sources, and its exploration of multiplicity and diversity as essential features of the Mahābhārata's long life in South Asia, Many Mahābhāratas constitutes a major contribution to the study of South Asian literature and offers a landmark view of the field of Mahābhārata studies.

Download or read book The Difficulty of Being Good written by Gurcharan Das and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2010-10-04 with total page 487 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why should we be good? How should we be good? And how might we more deeply understand the moral and ethical failings--splashed across today's headlines--that have not only destroyed individual lives but caused widespread calamity as well, bringing communities, nations, and indeed the global economy to the brink of collapse? In The Difficulty of Being Good, Gurcharan Das seeks answers to these questions in an unlikely source: the 2,000 year-old Sanskrit epic, Mahabharata. A sprawling, witty, ironic, and delightful poem, the Mahabharata is obsessed with the elusive notion of dharma--in essence, doing the right thing. When a hero does something wrong in a Greek epic, he wastes little time on self-reflection; when a hero falters in the Mahabharata, the action stops and everyone weighs in with a different and often contradictory take on dharma. Each major character in the epic embodies a significant moral failing or virtue, and their struggles mirror with uncanny precision our own familiar emotions of anxiety, courage, despair, remorse, envy, compassion, vengefulness, and duty. Das explores the Mahabharata from many perspectives and compares the successes and failures of the poem's characters to those of contemporary individuals, many of them highly visible players in the world of economics, business, and politics. In every case, he finds striking parallels that carry lessons for everyone faced with ethical and moral dilemmas in today's complex world. Written with the flair and seemingly effortless erudition that have made Gurcharan Das a bestselling author around the world--and enlivened by Das's forthright discussion of his own personal search for a more meaningful life--The Difficulty of Being Good shines the light of an ancient poem on the most challenging moral ambiguities of modern life.

Download or read book Arjun Without A Doubt written by Dr.Shinde Sweety and published by One Point Six Technology Pvt Ltd. This book was released on 2015-01-28 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I knew there was nothing poetic about death. I knew not that the most horrific battles are fought off the battlefield. Arjun: The idealist in a non-ideal world; the warrior whose deadliest opponent was his conscience. History forgot his voice, but misquoted his silence. My self-esteem originates from me and ends in me. Why does your honor depend on me? Find your own. Draupadi: The untamed tigress, the fragrant flame, the unbridled spirit. Power does not justify sin. Power is not virtue. Virtue is that which lasts in spite of power. Krishn: The enigma whose unique ideology churned the battlefield into a quest for Truth. The Missile …The Trajectory … The Vision. The trio that makes for the core of The Mahabharata (Indian Epic). This is their saga. Insightful, visceral and candid. Find ‘other’ famous Arjuns; compare Arjun vis-a-vis Achilles and Alexander; Explore Myths of Mahabharata. All this and much more in ‘Arjun: Without A Doubt’. First published in 2015 by Leadstart Publishing Pvt. Ltd. Genre: Epic/ Indian Mythology/ History/ Fiction Website: http://sweetyshinde.wordpress.com