Recent years have witnessed continued and growing interest in the massive and fascinating poems now as the Sanskrit This interest has manifested itself in the continuing translations of texts, a steady stream of publications and numerous scholarly meetings of Sanskrit epic scholars. A number of these scholars assembled in Helsinki to constitute the Epic Section of the 12th World Sanskrit Conference in the summer of 2003. The present volume places before the Indological community the sixteen learned papers presented at the conference by the distinguished group of scholars who were in attendance. The topics and methodologies of the authors are as varied and diverse as the contents of the monumental poems themselves but each contribution sheds new light on some aspect of the genetic and/or receptive history of these works, their relationship to each other and to other Indic texts, or the representation and analysis of specific characters and episodes in the poems.

There are over one hundred Upanisads, of which, the following ten commented upon by Sankaracarya, are regarded as genuine and, therefore, most authoritative: Isa, Kena, Katha, Prasna, Mundaka, Mandukya, Taittiriya, Aitareya, Chandogya and Brhadaranyaka.

The Isa-Upanisad teaches that both knowledge (vidya) and action (avidya) are necessary for attaining immortality. The Kenopanisad lays down that Brahman alone is the power that makes the senses function. The Kathopanisad contains the famous dialogue between Naciketa and Yama. The Prasnopanisad contains Pippalada`s answers to philosophical questions put by his six disciples. The Mundakopanisad classified knowledge into Para and Apara and discusses the nature and the means of meditation upon Brahman, its result and, Brahmanirvana. The Mandukyopanisad describes, in course of explaining omkara, the three stages of soul, known as Jagarita, Svapna and Sususpti, as well as the fourth stage of Advaita. The Taittiriyopanisad deals with certain Dhyanas and instructions as means to the realisation of Brahman. The Aitareyopanisad discusses cosmogony, rebirth and immortality. The Chandogyopanisad discusses, inter alia, the significance of the mystic syllable om, meaning of Gayatri, the problem of being and non-being, appearance and reality, individual and universal spirit, subtlety and immanence of Atman, self and reality, etc. And, lastly, the Brhadaranyakopanisad contains some interesting parables and accounts of philosophical importance, ritualistico-philosophical description of the cosmos, poetico-physiological description of the self etc.

About the Book

In all religions of the world which maintain sacrificial rituals and in which the portion offered to Gods is given to fire, that portion is normally offered raw except in Vedic India, where its previous cooking is necessary. The reasons for such a treatment forms the subject matter of this book.

The author, through an exhaustive examination of Vedic, Brahmanic and Srauta Sutric texts, traces the beginning and development of the idea of cooking as transforming energy, from early Vedic hymns to the classical and fully complete sacrifices of the later Brahmanic times.

The work is divided into two major parts: The first, comprising four chapters, follows the emergence and development of the first intuition the rishis had of their use of fire as God of energy; the second part, consisting of the remaining four chapters takes into account four emblematic rituals where heat is especially prominent, discussing, how the presence of heat has worked in shaping those rituals and the spirituality that has arisen from them. An introduction has cast the problem in its human, temporal and geographical conditions, while a conclusion has brought the entire matter to its heavenly accomplishment.

About the Author:

Born in Roma (Italia), Uma Marina Vesci received her education in Roma itself, graduating in Ancient History and Archaeology with a thesis on: " the use of Musical Instruments in the religious Life of Ancient Greece". Further, she specialized in History of Religions with a thesis on: "God, Man and Salvation in the Spiritual change in the VI century B.C. from China to Greece". At the end of 1963 she won a scholarship to India where she continued her studies centered on Hinduism and especially on Vedic texts. Since then she has continuously lived in India to the present with support from various scholarships and fellowships in B.H.U. (Varanasi), Indian Institute of Advanced Study in Simla, at center of Advanced study in Philosophy, Visva Bharati(Shantiniketan), and in the Italian Embassy Cultural Centre in Delhi and Varanasi. In this last capacity she has taught comparative religions for a short while in Patiala at the Dept. of Religious Studies. Dr. Vesci has contributed many articles on Indological subjects to numerous international journals and has lectured widely.

About the Book:

The Grhya sutras contain rules for customs, ceremonies and sacrifices through which the life of an Indian attains purification. They record a number of popular customs and manners connected with conception, birth, name-giving, first-outing, first-eating, by the child. They include rules for tonsure, initiation, completion of studies, custom of courting, engagement, wedding etc. They are important for the student of comparative history inasmuch as they contain parallels in the manners and customs of Indo-European folks.

This Grhya-sutra belongs to the Jaimini School of Samaveda. It is divided into 2 parts. Part I opens with details of regular sacrifices in which cooked food is offered to the deities. The work proceeds with the description of a ceremony to secure the birth of a male child, description of the Nadimukha Sraddha preceding every sacrament, of parting the hair, ceremony for the new-born child, ceremony of giving name, the first feeding of the babe with solid food, the tonsure of child's head, initiation of the student to the study, twilight devotion, opening of the annual course of study, ending of the term f study, observance of vows, his return home after finishing the course of study, ceremony of marriage, evening and morning sacrifices and the sacrifice of first fruits.

Part II opens with the rite of Sraddha and proceeds with the description of astakas, funeral ceremonies, libations of water, and the collection of bones. It is followed by the detailed account of rites of the house, allaying of prodigies, recitation of the Veda during a fast. It ends with the appeasing of planets malefic to the householder.

From the jacket

The Vedic Literature the most ancient product of the Aryan mind held in the highest esteem and regarded as the most sacred by the Hindus presents a panorama of the life of the ancient population of India in all its facets. The scared literature was subjected to analytical study for the first time in the recent centuries by European scholars mainly Germans the foremost among then being Herman Oldenberg His magnum opus-Die Religion des Veda first appeared in print in 1894 and in a revised edition in 1916. He made use of linguistic methods, ethnology and folklore in his exhaustive and penetrating study of the Vedic religion. This work has had a great impact on subsequent Vedic studies and has an abiding interest to the student of the Veda, as is amply evident from the fact that even after nearly a century of its first publication it continues to attract the attention of Vedic researchers and is very frequently sought for guidance and consultation by them, and here is the first ever English translation of this four classic

The work is complete in four chapter preceded by an introduction discussing in detail the source, viz, the Vedas Brahmanas and sutra. The first chapter deals with the Vedic gods and demons in general the second one with the individual gods such as Agni, Indra Vruna Mitra and others the evil demons the origin of the world and the divine and the moral worlds the third treats at length of the cult of sacrifice magic observances festivals prayer priests and the like and the fourth one of the dead, soul heaven and ell, ghosts fathers funeral rites and animism.

Author of the book

Hermann Oldenberg (1854-1920) is considered as one of the greatest Indologists of Germany. After studying classical and Indian philology in Gottingen ands Berlin he became university professor at Kiel and Berlin. He visited India in 1912-13. His contributions to Vedic and Buddhistic studies are vast. He translated the Dipavaqmsa rgveda and Grhyasutras into German.

Of his many books like Buddha sein Leben , sein Lehre, sein Gemeide, Die Lehre des Upanischadern und die Anfange des Buddhism Die Literature des alten Indiens among other Die Religion des Veda (1894) in most outstanding and oft-quoted work.

Shridhar B. Shrotri (b.1934) had his education at Pune. He was the first to have obtained a doctorate degree in Geman from an Indian University in 1965. He has also studies at Heideberg and Munich. He taught at rajaram college Kolhapur and M.E.S and fergusson colleges at pune before joining Karnatak University Dharwad in 1962 where he rose to the position of professor in the foreign languages Department in 1985. Dr. Shrotri has several research papers and translations to his credit.

About the Book:

The Yajurveda Samhita or the prayer book of the Adhvaryu priest is recorded to have had as many as 101 recensions at the time of the grammarian Patanjali, out of which, only 5 have survived and are available at present, viz., Kathaka, Kapisthala, Maitrayani, Taittiriya, and Vajasaneyi, the first four belonging to the 'Black Yajurveda' and the fifth to what is designated as 'White Yajurveda'. The Vajasaneyi Samhita which takes its name from Yajnavalkya Vajasaneya, the chief teacher of this Veda, has come down in two slightly differing versions known as the Kanva and the Madhyandina Samhitas.

The Chief difference between the texts of the 'Black' and 'White' Yajurveda lies in the fact that the latter contains only the Mantras, i.e. the prayers and sacrificial formulae which the priest has to utter, while the former contains in addition a presentation of the sacrificial rites belonging to them as well as the Brahmana or theological discussion on the same.

The present volume contains the text belonging to the Madhyandina school of the White Yajurveda along with the commentaries of Uvata and Mahidhara well known as the Mantra-Bhasya and the Vedadipa-Bhasya respectively, preceded by a short Introduction in Sanskrit giving besides other things the traditional mythological explanation of the division of the Veda into 'Black' and 'White' etc.

About The Author:

S. M. Srinivasa Chari (b. 1919, Mysore) has a brilliant academic record. He is an M. A. in Philosophy of the University of Mysore and recipient of Ph.D. from the University of Madras. He is a finished Sanskrit scholar trained up by eminent traditional teachers. He was a research Scholar at the University of Madras and a Fellow of Institute of Philosophy at Amalner in Maharashtra.

Dr. Chari joined the Ministry of Education, Government of India, after the completion of his university career. He retired in 1976 as Joint Educational Adviser.

Dr. Chari has traveled widely. He has participated in international conferences abroad, and addressed learned assemblies at University Centres on aspects of Indian philosophy and religion. He is author of Advaita and Visistadvaita and Vaisnavism

Foreword
Visistadvaita is one of the great religio-philosophical systems of the world. There are very few modern critical expositions of it based on the bhasya, supplement by later erudite works.

Dr. Srinivasa Chari has acquired quite a profound knowledge of Visistadvaita from great pundits with whom he studied for years the texts in original. His modern education has endowed him with the capacity to present classical ideas in a lucid and connected way.

Depending on the original texts, in particular on Vedanta Desika's Tattva-mukta-kalapa, Dr. Chari has written an excellent monograph which authoritatively expounds Visistadvaita. Moreover, it attempts to establish that this a system of philosophy in conformity with logic and experience.

From the Jacket:

The doctrine of Visistadvaita, expounded by Ramanuja, was developed into a sound system of philosophy by the most brilliant of his successors, Venkatanatha, 'popularly known as Vedanta Desika.' His chief contribution to the intellectual foundation of the system lay in the composition of the text of Tattva-mukta-kalapa, a treatise of significant philosophical import left for posterity.

In this volume, which is a study of Visistadvaita based on Tattva-mukta-kalapa, the line of arguments advanced by Vedanta Desika is closely followed. The major and important issues related to the philosophy of Visistadvaita are brought within the purview of discussion. The contemporary rival schools represented by Carvakas, Buddhists and Jainas, Nayaya-Vaisesikas, Mimamsakas and the Advaitins, of both orthodox and unorthodox camps, are successfully encountered. In the textual light of Tattva-mukta-kalapa, the notion that Visistadvaita is a theological system is dispelled, and its philosophic core is established beyond doubt.

The author maintains 'the original orthodox style, so characteristic of the ancient Acaryas', in his delineation of topics; yet the exposition remains free from all kinds of scholastic trappings.

The volume is a definitive study of Visistadvaita doctrine, both in their 'philosophical as well as theological aspects'. Its in-depth probe of 'the fundamental epistemological and philosophical issues…common to all schools' both I the East and the West makes its appeal to those interested 'in understanding the basic problems of philosophy'

 

This ediition of Samaveda is based on the exposition of Swami Dayanand. The translator has furnished references in the footnotes to different intrepretations of Indian and foreign scholars. An introduction and glossary-cum-index are added for the benefit of those not acquainted with Samaveda.

From the Jacket

The primal spiritual of the Vedic tradition, which is the subject dealt with in this volume, contains the central ideas of the philosophy perennis - the One as the source and support of the many, the spirituality of matter, and the divinity of all living beings. Its outlook is holistic as it integrates beings with the primal Being. It has a long history of five millennia spanning pre-axial, and modern periods. It has been renewed from time to time through a series of renaissance - first through the Upanisads, again through the epics and the bhakti movement, and then through the modern renaissance leaders. Hence, it is vibrant in spite of its age, modern in spite of its antiquity. Swami Vivekananda, Ramana Maharsi and Jagadguru Candrasekharendra Sarasvati are some of the exemplars of the primal spirituality.

About the Author

A specialist in Advaita, Phenomenology, and Existentialism, R. Balasubramanian is at present Hony. Visiting Professor, Sri Aurobindo School of Eastern and Western Though, Pondicherry University and President, Afro-Asian Philosophy Association. He was Director, Radhakrishnan Institute for Advanced Study in Philosophy, University of Madras, for a number of years. He was Chairman of Indian Council of Philosophical Research. He has a number of books and papers to his credit. Some of his publications include Personalistic Existentialism of Berdyaev (1970), The Taittiriyopanisad-bhasyavartika of Suresvara (1974-1984), A Study of the Brahmasiddhi of Mandanamisra (1983) and The Tradition of Advaita (editor) (1994).

The Vedantasutra of Badarayana which codifies the teachings of the Upanisads is acclaimed by all as the fundamental source book for the system of Vedanta philosophy. Nevertheless several schools of thought such as the Advaita of samkara, the Visistadvaita of Ramanuja and the Dviata of Madhva have been developed from it, each one differing from the other in respect of major doctrines. This makes it difficult to determine the specific nature of the Vedanta philosophy as enunciated by Badarayana in his classic sutras apart from what is claimed by the respective commentators.

Dr. Chari's scholarly work attempts to brig out the views of Badarayana on the philosophy of Vedanta as enshrined in the sutras. He discusses comprehensively and in a systematic manner with reference to the selected sutra, the five fundamental doctrines of Vedanta namely, the nature of Brahman, the nature of the individual soul and its relation to Brahman, the nature of the universe and its relation to Brahman, the nature of the means to attain Brahman and the nature of the Supreme Goa. On the basis of an objective evaluation of the comments of three principal exponents of Vedanta, he has conclusively established that the Vedanta , he has conclusively established that the Vedanta philosophy of Badarayana is theistic monism, upholding the oneness of the Ultimate Reality as organically non-sentient cosmic matter. The book which is the first of its kind seeks to provide a deeper insight into the Vedantasutras.

From the Jacket

Brahmasutras and Their Principal Commentaries is a vigorous, animate and thought-provoking treatise on the interpretation of the Vedantasutras of Badarayana. Dr. Sharma has delved deeply into the three principal traditions of their interpretation established by acaryas: Sankara, Ramanuja, and Madhva.

This is the first work on the Sutras to give parity of treatment to all the three principal traditions of interpretation by placing them in their own milieu and bringing them into close thematic relation with one another, allowing full scope for each one to speak in its authentic voice. The exegetical, the expository and the analytic aspects of the interpretations have been given the fullest attention in a coordinated form, for the first time.

Besides the bhasyas of the acaryas, we are here treated to a sumptuous feast of the niceties and nuances of their exposition and reinforcement by their distinguished subcommentators like Vacaspati Misra, Amalananda, Sudarsana Suri, Jayatirtha, Vyasatirtha, Vadiraja, Raghuttama, Raghunatha, Raghaendra Swamin, and others whose works are not available to us in English translations. The disquisitions from these unexplored classics of the Vedanta system are sure to regale the tarkarasikas among students of philosophy in the East, in the West, and in the Far East.

It is only such a thoroughgoing study of the Sutras and their classical commentaries that can help us in our voyage of discovery to where the Sutras of Badarayana intend to lead us.

Dr. B.N.K. Sharma was a distinguished Sanskrit scholar and retired as Professor and Head of the Department of Sanskrit and Ardhamagadhi, Ruparel College, Mumbai. His other important works are: Madhva’s Teachings in His Own Worlds; Philosophy of Madhvacarya; and History of Dvaita School of Vedanta and its Literature.

Cover: Hard Cover
Edition : 2008
Publisher : Munshiram Manoharlal Publication Pvt.Ltd
ISBN : 9788121500357
Language : English
Pages : 1835

About the Book:- History of Indian Literature is a classic work covering the entire gamut of Indian secular and religious literature including epic, Iyric, dramatic and didactic poetry, as well as narrative and scientific prose. It includes not only the large number of works of religious literature - hymns, sacrificial songs, incantations, myths and legends, sermons, theological treatises, polemical writings, manuals of instruction on ritual and religious discipline but also the Iyrical and dramatic works, including the two great epics, the fairy-tales, fables, prose-narratives, the belles-lettres and works on various sciences.

The inclusion of this vast material, covering almost three thousand years of literary activity, could not be compressed into a single volume. Hence this was divided into two volumes by the author. Volume I includes, besides an introductory chapter, the Vedas, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the Puranas and the Tantras, while volume II deals with the Buddhist and the Jaina literature with an Index at the end of each volume.

From the pen of Ananda K. Coomaraswamy this small but wonderful volume is an essay in translation and exegesis in relation to the Vedas in which passages from the Rgveda and the Brhadaranyaka and Maitri Upanisads, dealing with cosmogony, ontology and teleology, have been interpreted in a new perception of the quite extraordinary depth of those ideas and their amazing psychological accuracy. According to Coomaraswamy no great extension of our present measure of understanding of the Vedas can be expected from philological research alone. Further progress in the interpretation of the difficult cycle of liturgies cannot be made until they are more profoundly explained from the viewpoint of the history of religion and translated in accordance with the true spirit of the textual contents. The passages translated and interpreted in this volume reflect their technical significance and at the same time a comparative approach. This has made the work exceptional in regard to quality, understanding and depth.


About the Author:- Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy, the greatest among the Indian Art-historians, was born in Colombo on August 22, 1887. after graduating from the University of London with honours in Geology in 1900, he became the director of the Mineralogical Survey of Ceylon. During his three-year's stay in Ceylon, he formed the Ceylon Social Reformation Society and led the University movement in which he initiated the national education, teaching of vernaculars in all school and revival of Indian culture. Between 1906 and 1917, when he joined as the Curator of Indian Art at the Boston Museum he was busy lecturing on Indian art. In 1938, he became the Chairman of National Committee for India's Freedom. His contributions on Indian Philosophy, religion, art and iconography, painting and literature are of the greatest importance as were his contributions on music, science and Islamic art. He died on September 9, 1947

Cover: Hard Cover
Edition : 2002
Publisher : Munshiram Manoharlal Publication Pvt.Ltd
ISBN : 8121506301
Language : English
Pages : 116

The Upanishads are the central scriptures of Hinduism. They represent some of the most important literary products in the history of Indian culture and religion, both because they played a critical role in the development of religious ideas in India and because they are our greatest source for the religious, social, and intellectual history of ancient India. Composed at a time of great social, economic, and religious change, the Upanisads document the transition from the archaic ritualism of the Veda into new religious ideas and institutions. In the Introduction Olivelle provides a solid background for understanding these ancient documents. He examines both the social background of the Upanisads and their literary history: authorship, chronology, and geographical provenance. He describes the ritual practices and terminology, Vedic conceptions of the cosmos and of human physiology and psychology. Finally, Olivelle examines the central Upanisadic preoccupation of finding interconnections among the diverse elements of the universe. The copious notes present some of the most present philological and historical research on this material and give the reader detailed explanations of difficult passages. The list of names identifies all the major individuals and geographical names occurring in the Upanisads. Two charts present the texts of the Vedic corpus and the plan of the Vedic sacrificial arena. A map shows the geographical areas mentioned in the Upanisads and the places where the different Upanisads may have been composed. A detailed index of subjects is also provided. The first major English translation of the ancient Upanisads for over half a century, Olivelle's work incorporates the most recent historical and philological scholarship and presents the Sanskrit text and translation on facing pages. All major variant readings and emendations suggested by scholars are given in the notes, which, together with an informative introduction and detailed explanatory notes, make this edition ideal for both specialists and students of Indian religion and culture. Printed Pages: 699.

About the Author

Patrick Olivelle is the Chair, Department of Asian Studies, and Director, Center for Asian Studies, at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is the Professor of Sanskrit and Indian Religions

These are the collection of the weekly lectures given by the Swami in the Institute of Culture, Calcutta. The introduction to the book is on the power of the Upanishads. Upanishads are intelligible body of verified and verifiable spiritual insights mixed with myths and legends.
The book discusses the spiritual heritage of Hindus and various aspects of the Upanishads and Bhagwad Gita. Isa Upanishad and Katha Upanishad have been discussed in great detail, making the book interesting and readable. Stories, quotations , Sanskrit verses , interpretations of the Upanishads are included in t his volume.

About The Author : Swami Ranganathananda :
Winner of the first Indira Gandhi award for National Integration, Swami Ranganathananda was President of Ramakrishna Math and then Vice President of the world wide Ramakrishna Math. He has written several books, and 60 titles of audio tapes expounding the ideas of Ramakrishna Vivekananda and Vedanta.

Specification

• Product Code :BK7122
• Size :8.5" x 5.5"
• Weight :550 gm.
• Author :Paul Deussen / Rev. A. S. Geden
• ISBN :9788120816206
• Publisher :Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
• Edition :2011
• Cover :Paperback
• Language :English
• Pages :444

Description

Paul J. Deussen

The book would create a great interest in the study and research in Indology. …the people interested in Upanishadic studies should read this book for getting better insights to the philosophy and philosophical history of Upanishads.
Godabarisha Mishra, Indian Philosophical Annual Vol. 23, 2001-2002

Paul Deussen’s study of the Upanishads is indeed ‘a work of very high ability and of surpassing interest’. …it has been recognized as a standard on the subject and remains so till today.
Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical Research Vol. 19, No. 2, April-June 2002

Preface

Dr. DELJSSEN’S treatise on the Upanishads needs no formal introduction or commendation to students of Indian thought who are familiar with the German language. To others I would fain hope that the translation here presented, winch appears with the author’s sanction, may serve to make known a work of very marked ability and of surpassing interest. As far as my knowledge extends, there is no adequate exposition of the Upanishads available in English. The best was published by Messrs. Trubner more than a quarter of a century ago, and is in many res1jects out of date. As traced here by the master-hand of the author, the teaching of the ancient Indian seers presents itself in clearest light, and claims the sympathetic study of all lovers of truth.

For the English rendering I am alone responsible. And where I may have failed to catch the precise meaning of the original, or adequately to represent the turn of phrase, I can only ask the indulgence of the reader. Dr. Deussen’s style is not easy. And if a more capable hand than mine had been willing to essay the task of translation, I would gladly have resigned my office. With whatsoever care I can hardly hope entirely to have escaped error. But for any indication of oversight or mistake, and any suggestion for improvement, I shall be most grateful. The work has exacted many hours that could be ill spared from a very full life. If however it conduce in any way to a better understanding of the mind and heart of India I shall be amply repaid.

Sri Rajaji presents, in the Upanishads, the grandeur of the ancient wisdom of the great Seers of Bharatvarsha.
In the Upanishads, we have a scripture which, among all the holy scriptures of the world, displays the most scientific spirit in connection with spiritual enquiry. The sages, whose thoughts and teachings we read in the Upanishads, seem to be as much inspired by constructive doubt as the most modern men of science. Their questions and answers indicate that they lived in an age when, alongside of conformism and the rigid maintenance of old practices, men thirsted for truth.


About The Author : C. Rajagopalachari :

Chakravarti Rajagopalachari is a distinguished founder member of the Bhavan. A great patriot, astute politician, thinker, visionary, a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi, he was a great statesman. A freedom fighter, he was also the Chief Minister of Madras, Governor of West Bengal, India's Home Minister and the first Indian Governor-General of Free India. Rajaji popularized books on Ramayan, Mahabharat, Bhagwad Gita ,Upanishads and several others by writing in his inimitable style which has appealed to millions of people. He wrote in English and Tamil, his mother tongue. He passed away in 1972 at the age of 94.

The book has been written by someone who is not only an agricultural physicist and scientist but also an eminent philosopher and Sanskrit scholar. The book reflects the combination of a deep and analytical mind with the width of the vedic view of life. He has explained that the basic foundation for vedic algebra and cosmology was laid during his childhood in a small village. Questions about the origin and growth of the universe at an early age led him to research and delve into science and find answers, which have been presented in this book. Various theories like the Big Bang theory, extensive Cold Dark Matter and others vis-a-vis the vedic theory have been discussed.

In the vedic theory of the origin of the universe, the result is obtained by sages and rishis of yore who spent ages meditating and concentrating. According to them the seed of the Universe is an entity called Atma. The universe, according to the Upanishadic concept, does not have a beginning and so did not emerge after a big bang but its creation is a continuous cyclic process starting with cold matter (gaseous stage). The possibility of a number of universes coexisting is evident. Tables comparing the Vedic and Big Bang models on the origin of the universe have been given in great detail in the book. Upanishads declare that at the beginning of creation there was only one God who created various species of movable and immovable things. All have God living within them. The book has been written with very deep research on the topic.

About The Author : C.Dakshinamurthi
Dr Dakshinamurti was awarded the first doctorate degree in Soil Physics in 1948. He is an academician, researcher and research manager having over 150 publications in scientific journals.

The book deals with eleven dialogue-hymns of the Rgveda. The original text in Vedic Sanskrit has been translated in as easy an expression as possible. A worth reading book for those having taste for a peep into and respect for the distant past.

Of the eleven dialogue-hymns of the Rgveda, two of them are composed in soliloquy form and are concerned with a gambler and a mendicant respectively. Three hymns are connected mainly with Indra (the god of rains), two with the couples like Agastya and Lopamudra, and Pururavas and Urvashi, and one with the twin siblings: Yama and Yami. Out of the rest, one hymn displays a delightful and heavenly picture of the marriage ceremony which is traditionally prevalent in India even today, another tells us about the prosperous condition of the ancient traders like Panis, and yet another deals with the crossing through the currents of two rivers by Visvamitra, a Vedic seer.

About The Author : Dr. Satya Dev Choudhary :
Dr. Satya Dev Choudhary is a Prof. of Hindi & Sanskrit. His special interest include Indian Poetics, Philology, Vedic Literature and Medieval Hindi Literature. He has about 25 books to his credit and for them he has been felicitated with a number of prizes and awards.

The object of this book is to give a clear and concise view of the principal results of Astrology, and of the revolution which they have affected in Modern Thought.
In this book, the author has fully explained all about astrology in Ancient Indian and has given a description of the various constellations of stars - on which the Science of Astrology is based. The volume is divided into eight chapters.

The first chapter gives an account of the antiquity of the Science of Astrology. Chapters II, III and IV give an account of the movements of the Sun, the Moon and the Earth. Chapter V gives a number of tables pertaining to dates, latitudes and longitudes, etc. From these tables, the necessary calculations are to be made in framing the horoscopes. Chapter VI and VII deal with special contribution from the author, where the author has examined numerous horoscopes to prove the authenticity of his predictions regarding death and marriage. Chapter VIII is an appendix giving further information to help the calculations.

Description

The ever-popular Book of Good Counsels from ancient India. One of the best-known Sanskrit classics, Narayana’s Hitopadesa is a fascinating collection of animal and human fables augmented with polished verse epigrams and gnomic stanzas, many of which have become proverbial. This satirical, often irreverent and sometimes ribald text has been popular for centuries as a compendium of worldly advice on matters ranging from statesmanship and detailed battle plans to personal conduct and marital fidelity. It has also served generations of students as a model of grammatical and metaphorical excellence. In this ‘Garden of Pleasing Stories’, as Narayan himself describes it, birds, beasts, men and women scheme, suffer, lust, err, grieve and rejoice, acting as perceptive social critics and astute commentators on the absurd nature of human folly. Combining his own literary genius with skilful selections and modifications of material from the Panchatantra and a host of other traditional sources, Narayan has created a refreshingly original masterpiece. This excellent new translation faithfully renders the wit and wisdom of the original.

This erudite and wide-ranging anthology offers a panoramic view of Vedānta in Śaṅkara’s own words, with selections from standard translations of his commentaries on the Upaniṣads, the Brahma-sūtra (Vedānta-sūtra) and the Bhagavad-gītā—texts which together form the scriptural canon of Vedānta—and an independent treatise, the Upadeśa Sāhasri, on whose authenticity there is unanimity. Exhibiting a deep empathy with the living tradition, Sudhakshina has selected passages that explain all the important concepts and teachings, including up-to-date deliberations on Śaṅkara. Her general and sectional introductions illuminate and demystify the esoteric concepts, providing a holistic perspective of Vedānta and making it eminently accessible to the modern reader.

"This volume contains 19 out of the 30 papers presented at the 12th World Sanskrit Conference, some of them revised and updated. They discuss a wide range of topics, including:
* the Atharvaveda in Varanasi * authorities cited in Pratisakhyas and Siksas * Rgvedic religion: Kingship and the Deva-Asura problem * interiorization of ritual and the breaths in the Brahmana system of correspondencies * words signifying 'body' in the Rgveda * the Rgvedic hymn 1.143 * documenting manuscripts of Samavedic texts * a late catalogue of Rgvedic Khilas and Upakkilas * j.F. Staal's 'meaninglessness of ritual' and the nihnavana rite * the vaidika tradition of the Vaikhanasas * gender identity in Rgvedic hymns by female authors * traditional philology and new paradigms for studying of the past * making sense of 'senseless' Brahmana etymologies * the initiation to study (upanayana and punarupanayana) * audio recordings of the four Vedas * the wife (patni) in the Andhra tradition of Soma sacrifices * a forthcoming new edition of the Baudhayanagrhyasutra * the meaning of the priestly reward (daksina) in srauta sacrifices * ephemera of recently performed srauta rituals

The Closing Address of the 12th World Sanskrit Conference is published as an appendix to the volume, which is provided with detailed indexes."