Time in Indian Cultures : Diverse Perspectives

Contents: Introduction. I. Philosophy and religion: 1. Does time have a beginning? - Some inter-systemic and general reflections/P.K. Mukhopadhyay. 2. Time and its knowledge/Sukha Ranjan Saha. 3. Time as power: a brief survey of Bhartrhari\'s metaphysics - the notion of time in Kalasamuddesa/Tandra Patnaik. 4. Time in language/G.P. Panda. 5. Time in the spiritual traditions of India/Niranjan Mohanty. II. Literature, culture and the arts: 6. Time in Indian tradition: a note on the Mahabharata/Binda Paranjape. 7. Time as history, as myth/H.S. Komalesha and Jason A. Manjaly. 8. Time in North Indian Music/Sushil Kumar Saxena. 9. Time: representation in form/Bimalaprasad Mohapatra. 10. Time and the Ragamala painting tradition/Priyadarshi Patnaik. 11. Time and architecture: dialogues - the Indian perspective/Joy Sen and Joydeep Dutta. 12. Time in Indian popular culture/Amrita Basu. Index.

"The concept of time has been variously interpreted and debated in the Indian tradition since ancient times. It is referred to by the word kala which has many meanings like time personified, time as death, time as a cycle and so on, and other words like Samaya, Vela, Ksana as well, which refer to various aspects of time.

The volume is a comprehensive collection of papers dealing with the philosophical, religions/spiritual and linguistic aspects of time, and time as understood in Indian art, music and other aspects of culture. Scholars explore themes such as the notion of beginning of time in cosmology, theology and philosophy, time as interpreted by the Indian philosophical systems, use of the notion of time by Bhartrhari, and concepts of time as interpreted by Indian poets. They examine time as experienced in the seasonal, ritual cycles of Indian social, cultural and physical life, use of tala and laya in North Indian music, interpretation of time in the Ragamala painting tradition, perception of time in Indian architecture, and in Indian popular culture." (jacket)