The Glory of Indian Heritage/edited by K. Mahadevan, V.K. Madhavan Kutty, Kiran Ramachandran N. and Joseph Ouseparampil. 1998, xii, 471 p., $40.
Contents: Preface. I. Panorama of culture and philosophy: 1. Composite culture of India: an overview/K. Mahadevan, R. Jayasree, Kiran Ramachandran N. and V.K. Ravindra Kumar. 2. "The only" Sankara: the great founder of the school of non-dualism/Srinivasa Rao. 3. Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism in India/Sudha Gopinath. 4. Minorities in India: perspectives on freedom, rights and prosperity/C.J. Samuel and M. Ubaidullah. 5. Glimpses of Indian classical music: music for excellence/P.K. Srimani and P.K. Srivathsa. 6. The great classical dance/Padma Subramanyam. 7. Kathakali: a three dimensional poetic art/D. Appukuttan Nair. 8. Indian art since Ravi Verma/A.S. Raman. 9. Indian architecture through the ages/K.V. Raja Rao. 10. The glory of Sanskrit language/Joseph Ouseparampil. 11. Glimpses of other Indian languages and literature/V.L. Sethuraman and M. Varadharajan. 12. Influence of Indian art and culture on south-east Asia/K.V. Raman. II. Perspectives on development: 13. Yoga for health and peace/B.K.S. Iyengar. 14. Major Ayurvedic therapies for health and rejuvenation/P.K. Ravindranath. 15. Astrology in India/B.V. Raman. 16. Scientific excellence in India : past and present/P.R. Pisharoty. 17. Indian economy: achievements and limitations/C.B. Padmanabhan. III. Eminent personalities: 18. The recent great philosophers/Srinivasa Rao and Kiran Ramachandran N. 19. Eminent scientists and social scientists/S. Jayarama Reddy, M.S.R. Murthy and Shanta N. Nair. 20. Mahatma Gandhi: father of the nation/R.A. Jayantha. 21. A few great Indian leaders/K.V. Narayana Rao and Kiran Ramachandran N. 22. The preceptor of mankind: Rabindranath Tagore/Kiran Ramachandran N. 23. World peace and new international order: contributions of V.K. Krishna Menon/Kiran Ramachandran N. 24. The Doyen of Indian industry: J.R.D. Tata/Kiran Ramachandran N.
"The book The Glory of Indian Heritage is a collection of essays which aims at presenting perspectives of different aspects of Indian culture and development. It has essays on Indian classical music and dance, painting, Ayurveda and yoga which are traditional and indigenous system of health, physical fitness, and physical and mental well-being, astrology, language, philosophy, recent advances made by India in socio-economic development, and excellence achieved by Indian in the different branches of science and social sciences. It also includes profiles of selected eminent personalities of our time.
"It goes without saying that to try to present in a volume of moderate size, a holistic perspective of India which has at least 5,000 years of documented history, is to attempt the impossible. However, the themes chosen for the present volume are expected to be of interest to the general reader who would like to have authentic information about India of today.
"The papers in this volume are written by scholars who are experts in their respective fields. The objective of this book is to make it interesting as well as tractable to the reader. The different papers serve as introductions, though limited, to the selected themes to those readers in particular who are not sufficiently familiar with the Indian scene.
"Has India of this century lived up to its great inheritance? The different essays in the present book provide in part the answer. It may be said here that India has achieved several distinctions in the different branches of science, philosophy, literature, fine arts etc., of which one could be justly proud.
"It is hoped that this book will be welcomed by the general readers as also scholars who are interested in the Indian heritage." (jacket)
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