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The Bhagavad Gita by
The life and times of India's most famous spiritual and literary masterpiece The Bhagavad Gita, perhaps the most famous of all Indian scriptures, is universally regarded as one of the world's spiritual and literary masterpieces. Richard Davis tells the story of this venerable and enduring book, from its origins in ancient India to its reception today as a spiritual classic that has been translated into more than seventy-five languages. The Gita opens on the eve of a mighty battle, when the warrior Arjuna is overwhelmed by despair and refuses to fight. He turns to his charioteer, Krishna, who counsels him on why he must. In the dialogue that follows, Arjuna comes to realize that the true battle is for his own soul. Davis highlights the place of this legendary dialogue in classical Indian culture, and then examines how it has lived on in diverse settings and contexts. He looks at the medieval devotional traditions surrounding the divine character of Krishna and traces how the Gita traveled from India to the West, where it found admirers in such figures as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and Aldous Huxley. Davis explores how Indian nationalists like Mahatma Gandhi and Swami Vivekananda used the Gita in their fight against colonial rule, and how contemporary interpreters reanimate and perform this classical work for audiences today. An essential biography of a timeless masterpiece, this book is an ideal introduction to the Gita and its insights into the struggle for self-mastery that we all must wage.
Call Number: BL1138.66 .D38 2015
Ancient India by Call Number: DS451 .N29 2008
Ancient India by
The culture of ancient India is revealed through archaeology, our modern-day portal to the past. Through dramatic photography and lively narrative, take a passage to Indian antiquity. Visit Mohenjo-Daro or the "mound of the dead," a city built between 4 and 5 thousand years ago. Read how excavations there, begun in 1922, continue to uncover this ancient citadel. Learn, first-hand, what modern techniques tell us about ancient civilizations in the lower Indus Valley. And see how ancient treasures help archaeologists stitch together the multitudinous strands of India's past.--Publisher description.
Call Number: DS418 .D33 2007
Virtue, Success, Pleasure, and Liberation by
What is the Nature of the social order that unquestionably produced one of the greatest and longest lasting civilizations known to humankind? Alain Daniélou, distinguished Orientalist, musicologist, and linguist, reveals the foundations of India's culture and the four aims of human life as they are viewed in the traditional Hindu society: virtue on a moral plane; success on the material and social planes; pleasure on a sensual plane; and liberation on a spiritual plane. Coexistent with these aims are the four stages of life: quest for knowledge, family life, retreat into the forest, and renunciation. A four-fold division can be found in all traditional societies throughout the world, symbolically representing the progression of creative consciousness into physical reality. In India, this division is reflected in the caste system, a social order that differs profoundly from those accepted in the contemporary Western world. Exploring he fundamental concepts of the caste system, the author addresses issues of race, individual rights, sexual mores, martial practices, and spiritual attainments. In this light, he exposes the inherent flaws and hypocrisies of our modern egalitarian governments and shows how the shadow side of the ancient caste system persists, disguised and unacknowledged, beneath contemporary economic regimes. Daniélou explains how Hindu society has served as a model for the realization of human potential on many levels, addressing sociological and human problems that are both timeless and universal.
Call Number: BL1215.L54D36 1993Publication Date: 1993-08-01
Streaming Video
- Ancient IndiaThe antecedents of modern Indian culture can be traced back to the Harappan civilization, which flourished between 2300 and 1500 BC in what are now Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Aryan tribes from the Russian steppes invaded the subcontinent in 1000 BC, bringing their language and culture. The resulting synthesis between the Aryan and Indian civilizations brought forth a unique society that included a caste system, which soon became entrenched. This program examines the religious tension between Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam, and the historical events that shaped the great Indian civilizations, from the Mauryan Empire through the Mogul Empire. Maps and scholars provide insight into a culture that remains vibrant and diverse today. (48 minutes)
Inventions and Innovations
Websites
- Ancient India
from the British Museum - Ancient India
From BBC History
Online From CCBC Libraries
Historical Dictionary of Ancient India by
India's history and culture is ancient and dynamic, spanning back to the beginning of human civilization. Beginning with a mysterious culture along the Indus River and in farming communities in the southern lands of India, the history of India is punctuated by constant integration with migrating peoples and with the diverse cultures that surround the country. Placed in the center of Asia, history in India is a crossroads of cultures from China to Europe, as well as the most significant Asian connection with the cultures of Africa. The Historical Dictionary of Ancient India provides information ranging from the earliest Paleolithic cultures in the Indian subcontinent to 1000 CE. The ancient history of this country is related in this book through a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on rulers, bureaucrats, ancient societies, religion, gods, and philosophical ideas.
Publication Date: 2008
Encyclopedia of IndiaPublication Date: 2005
Podcasts
Databases
- ProQuest Central This link opens in a new window
Articles on any subject. This is a good place to start.
- World History This link opens in a new window
Articles, essays, and primary sources on the history of the world.
