Conspiracy to Kill Rajiv Gandhi

Conspiracy to Kill Rajiv Gandhi : From CBI Files

by K Ragothaman

ISBN 9788170494508, Hardcover, pp. 216,

Rs. 535 or US$ 9.91 (10% discounted price, free shipping in India)

About the book :

The gruesome assassination of former Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi on 21st May, 1991 was meticulously planned and flawlessly executed by hardcore cadres of LTTE. It was an unique and first of its kind murder plan wherein a human bomb, that too a lady, was used, killing not only Rajiv Gandhi, nine police officers and six other persons, but also causing grievous injury to more than fifty persons assembled at the election meeting to hear the views of Rajiv Gandhi.

Due to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, the nation suffered a great tragedy and the Lok Sabha Elections (1991) had to be postponed. The perpetrators of heinous crime, by assassinating Rajiv, directly interfered in our sovereign rights and caused disruptive activities in our democratic system. The method of assassination as well as the terrorist outfits involved therein remained a mystery for quite sometime. Theories after theories, news after news, were planted and disinformation campaigns floated by so-called Goebbels without any basis. 

The author, who was the chief investigating officer of the case in CBI, has deeply gone into the investigation in spite of having no clue to start with. Piece by piece, step by step evidences were collected and on the pugmarks, the culprits were apprehended and the main faces of the conspirators were unmasked.

The author, in this book, has given detailed account of the investigation and also exposed the persons behind the disinformation campaign and revealed as to how the CBI investigation was derailed and many of the bureaucrats and political personalities were allowed to go scot free.

Buy this online at www.easternbookcorporation.com

Phulkari by Krishna Lal

Phulkari From the Realm of Women’s Creativity

Krishna Lal (Ed.) 2013, Hardcover, 24 cm, pp. 124, ISBN: 9788173054655
Price : Rs. 995 or US$ 18.43 (10% discount, shipping extra)

About the book : 

India has a great tradition of embroidery prevalent in each and every region; each of them different from the other. There are several embroidery styles, which have become popular nationally and internationally and have become synonymous to the region they come from. For example, Kashmir is known for amlikar work on shawls, Himachal Pradesh for Chamba rumal, Uttar Pradesh for chikan work, Gujarat for mochi work and Punjab for phulkari. Each one has its own characteristics and phulkari stands out to be different among all these.

Phulkari is a very refined embroidery work of Punjab and Haryana. It has more emotional, social and cultural value which is very rare. Embroidered with silk thread on cotton base, phulkari is a shawl made by the mother for her young daughter or daughter-in-law. Phulkari literally means floral work and is also called Bagh, which literally means a garden.

In the olden times, accomplishment of a bride and her mother was judged by the beautiful phulkari and bagh they made. Even the affluence of the families was judged by the number and work of phulkari and bagh they gave to their daughters in their trousseau. They also made ceremonial pieces which were used in marriages, at the time of birth of a child and during festive occasions. Phulkaris are known for their vibrant colours, geometric pattern and gaiety which are an integral part of the life and tradition of the people of Punjab.

The present volume catalogues and documents the selected and rare pieces of Phulkari from the archives of Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA).

To buy online : India book Online

Historicity of the Mahabharata

Evidence of Literature, Art & Archaeology

By Prof. B.B. Lal

Hardcover, 25 cm., pp. pp. xii+104, ills. 42

ISBN 9788173054587

Price: RS. 900.00 or US$ 16.67 (10% discounted price)

About the Book :

To the faithful, everything mentioned in the Mahabharata is true to the very letter, whereas the skeptic holds that the epic is nothing more than a mere figment of imagination. How, then, can one ascertain the truth? It is here that archaeology comes to our rescue.

In 1951-52, Professor B.B. Lal excavated the key-site of Hastinapura, situated on the bank of the Ganga, in Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh. Over here he encountered in the lower levels a settlement which was distinguished by a characteristic pottery called the Painted Grey Ware, assignable to circa 1100-800 BCE. This PGW Culture has since been discovered at all the Mahabharata sites—a feature which binds them together. 

Further, the excavation revealed that a heavy flood in the Ganga destroyed a considerable portion of the Painted Grey Ware settlement at Hastinapura. This archaeological evidence is duly corroborated by the Vayu Purana which states: “when the city of Hastinapura is carried away by the Ganga, Nichk¦u will abandon it and dwell in Kausambi.” 

The shifting of the capital from Hastinapura to Kausambi is, in turn, supported by the fact that in the lowest levels of Kausambi has been encountered the same kind of degenerated Painted Grey Ware as had begun to appear at Hastinapura prior to its destruction by the flood. 

Thus, the combined evidence of archaeology and literature duly establishes that the Mahabharata is not a figment of imagination but has a basis in historical reality. At the same time, it is on record that the epic underwent eleven-time inflation 8,800 to 1,00,000 verseshence it is difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. But let not the precious wheat be thrown away with the chaff.

To Buy this online or placing an order click - Books India

Rama and Ayodhya by Meenakshi Jain

Rama and Ayodhya

By Meenakshi Jain

ISBN: 9788173054518

Hardcover, 22 cm., pp. xxiv+344, ill. 29

Price: RS. 695.00, US$ 12.87

About the Book :

This work briefly examines the antiquity of the Rama Katha and spread of the Rama cult over the Indian subcontinent in the context of claims of Left academics on its late popularity. Its main focus is the conflict at Ayodhya over the Ramjanmabhumi temple allegedly destroyed by the Mughal Emperor, Babar, in 1528. It examines the accounts of foreign travellers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and British administrator-scholars in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which testify to Ayodhya’s continuing importance as a pilgrimage centre associated with Rama’s birthplace. The extended litigation over the Ramjanmabhumi/Babri Masjid in colonial times further attests to the persistence of the claims to the Janmabhumi.

From the late 1980s, Left historians have been in the forefront of the campaign against the Rama temple. They have argued that Rama worship was an eighteenth-nineteenth century phenomenon and the present-day Ayodhya acquired its standing and identity only in the fifth century AD, during the rule of the imperial Guptas. According to Left academics, the identification of the Ramjanmabhumi in Ayodhya was “a matter of faith, not of historical evidence”. They also rejected any possibility of the Babri Masjid being built on the site of the Janmabhumi temple. 

Excavations by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) proved the inaccuracy of these assertions. And finally, the judgement of the Allahabad High Court (Lucknow Bench) marked a decisive moment in the dispute over the Janmabhumi. The writings of Left academics, the findings of the ASI, the extended arguments in the Allahabad High Court and its eventual verdict form the subject of this study. 

Contents : 1. Introduction: A Case for Ayodhya; 2. Antiquity and Popularity of Rama Cult: The Literary Evidence; 3. Antiquity and Popularity of Rama Cult: The Sculptural Evidence; 4. Antiquity and Popularity of Rama Cult: The Epigraphic Evidence; 5. Early History of Ayodhya; 6. Reclaiming Sacred Space; 7. A History of the Conflict at Ayodhya; 8. Left Historians on Ayodhya; 9. 1992: New Archaeological Evidence; 10. Left Historians and the ASI Report; 11. Left Historians in Court; 12. An Emotional Marxist; 13. No Case for a Mosque; 14. Some Judicial Pronouncements on Ayodhya; Select Bibliography; Index

To Buy this online or placing order click - Books India

AJANTA - HANDBOOK OF THE PAINTINGS (3 Vols.)

Narrative Wall Paintings

by Dieter Schlingloff

2013; pp. 928, 31 cm, profously illustrated, ISBN : 9788173054563

Published by Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts & Aryan Books

Price US$ 74.00 / Rs. 4000 (Discount 15%) Shipping extra

Prof. Dieter Schlingloff is one of the leading experts on the paintings of Ajanta. He has been engaged with the task of identifying the subject matter of the Ajanta Paintings in rich detail—a pre-requisite for further research. His steadfast research for last forty years constitutes a brilliant corpus of books and articles on the paintings of Ajanta. The present work comprises the quintessence of his research on the narrative wall paintings, their literary sources and the cultural background.

In Prof. Schlingloff's own words, “The narrative paintings of the ancient period of Ajanta are of no less quality than the contemporaneous paintings of Roman Pompeii, and like those, they are the only testimonies of the marvelous art of narrative wall-painting elsewhere lost. The glory of ancient Indian culture and the high standard of its morality as revealed in the Ajanta paintings should become known worldwide”.

The narrative wall paintings thus forms the subject matter of the present publication arranged in three volumes where the main focus remains on the relationship of the text and the image that will hopefully stimulate further discussion and investigation in similar fields.

Professor emeritus Dr. Dieter Schlingloff, formerly head of the Department of Indology and Iranian Studies at the University of Munich, Germany, is a specialist in Buddhist Sanskrit literature, ancient Indian culture and art. More than forty years of the author's researches have been  concentrated on the narrative Ajanta paintings.

To Buy online click here - buy books from india