Literature & Fiction Books

Specification:

• Publisher : Zen Publications
  
• by : Clifford W DeSilva
  
• Cover : Paperback
  
• Language : English
  
• Edition : 2015
  
• Pages : 120
  
• Weight : 150 gm.
  
• Size : 5.5 x 0.3 x 8 inches
  
• ISBN-10: 9384363952
  
• ISBN-13: 978-9384363956

Description:

Enlightenment. What is it? Much has been written about it. Many have tried to describe it or show how to attain it.
Does one get enlightenment from reading about how to get it? Or listening to a guru who is enlightened? Or spending years in solitude? Or contemplation? Or does it just come one day all by itself to the true seeker?
Apparently in any or all of these ways. Or none of them.
If the seeker gets hung up on the book, or the guru, or the practice, or the solitude then no enlightenment. That would be like travelling on a journey to a specific destination and then clinging to a beautiful signpost that points the way.
One must desire enlightenment passionately and not desire it. One must search for it and remain unperturbed at not having got it.
Enlightenment will come. In its time. Can the seeker wait? In patience? In silence?
‘Not a Serpent, Not a Rope’ is a collection of tales that emerge from the collective wisdom of this world. The Introduction in the beginning of the book suffices to explain why it was written.

Specification:

• Publisher : Zen Publications
  
• by : Kyla Plaxton
  
• Cover : Paperback
  
• Language : English
  
• Edition : 2013
  
• Pages : 169
  
• Weight : 250 gm.
  
• Size : 15.2 x 1 x 22.9 cm
  
• ISBN-10: 9351265315
  
• ISBN-13: 978-9351265313

Description:

Have you started your period and are finding it painful and uncomfortable?
Do you have questions about your period and cannot find the answers?
Do you wonder why you have your period every single month and wish it was some other way?

If you have your period and can’t seem to find it in you to raise your hands in the air and shout "Hooray!" then l'm going to show you how and this book is a must read!
With this step by step handbook you will learn how to turn your menstruation into the biggest blessing of your life and the secret of how to own your personal power through your period!

Specification:

• Publisher : Zen Publications
  
• By : Randy Kaneen
  
• Cover : Paperback
  
• Language : English
  
• Edition : 2017
  
• Pages : 362
  
• Weight : 500 gm.
  
• Size : 5.2 x 0.9 x 8 inches
  
• ISBN-10 : 1927559200
  
• ISBN-13 : 978-1927559208

Description:

In Search of Sticks simultaneously challenges the intellect while surfacing raw emotional response. James, by the standards one generally uses to measure a life, is accomplished. Still, he twists. What if, in the final analysis, it ends up being as much about that which wasn't done rather than just what was acted upon? Paths are chosen. Steps are taken.
A compelling parallel story unfolds - Hope's African existence. It was emphatically stated that "God does not have favourites." But is this true? A picture is painted and its canvas is littered with the likenesses of disease and poverty and the images of those trapped in the geography of violence. Despite the forms of tragedy that present themselves, this story is full of hope. The victories are told in the small tales and the sheer numbers who do not sell their souls.

Specification:

• Publisher : Zen Publications
  
• By : Kimsuka Narsimhan
  
• Cover : Paperback
  
• Language : English
  
• Edition : 2015
  
• Pages : 210
  
• Weight : 300 gm.
  
• Size : 5.5 x 2 x 8.5 inches
  
• ISBN-10 : 9384363723
  
• ISBN-13 : 978-9384363727
  

Description:

Chandramani, the sumptuous home of the fabulously wealthy Kshetras. Manish, the Kshetra heir with everything to live for - fortune beyond imagination, a beautiful wife and little son. So why did Manish fall from the walls of Chandramani one fateful Diwali and die? Did he fall or was he pushed over the edge? Accident or murder? Ajmer Lalla has to wade through a complex cast of characters to answer this. A much-hated victim, a doting mother, an estranged wife, a distant sister, a motley group of friends, all come together in this intriguing tale.

Specification:

• Publisher : Zen Publications
  
• By : Shakuntala Hawoldar
  
• Cover : Paperback
  
• Language : English
  
• Edition : 2015
  
• Pages : 198
  
• Weight : 270 gm.
  
• Size : 5.5 x 2 x 8.5 inches
  
• ISBN-10 : 9384363308
  
• ISBN-13 : 978-9384363307
  

Description:

If you are looking for an explosive book by some kind of nerd, delving into abstract symbols, or a spiritual pundit floating in a metaphysical haze, then this book is not meant for you.

This is simply an extraordinary book by an ordinary woman who has enjoyed and suffered the dual, roller-coaster life of her daily grind.
She now offers us her life experiences with a unique pair of lenses to see a different world orbiting in a parallel universe. This universe of sat-chit-anand (truth-consciousness-joy/bliss) or oneness has been revealed time and again by the masters and gurus who have escaped the snares of Maya or world as illusion. The author however, reminds us that the dual world where we are all born has sticky glue as its mysterious matrix. This matrix blinds us with our complex desires and tendencies which has taken us with our automated robotic mind bodies onto a push button escalator which has gone out of control.

This hypnotic maya which emasculates our very thinking and distorts our brains makes us believe that what is not IS! Grappling with and perceiving what IS itself involves a jump in consciousness to a higher vantage point which is no easy feat.

Self transformation which is the essence of this book is a break through to a new dimension. In this new approach we cannot have one set of ideas fighting with another set for supremacy because all of it constitutes conditioning and more conditioning. The real, however is hidden in our bodymind-layers and it will reveal its hidden splendour only when we break away from our robotic selves or egos.

On the other hand if you are firmly ensconced in the invisible and hypnotic nets of samsara or maya then don't bother with the new horizons, which welcomes you as the land of light and love. Drop the book where you found it since self transformation is no cake walk!
 
ffa kuntala Hawoldar was born in Bombay, India on September 15, 1944.

Specification:

• Publisher : Zen Publications
  
• By : Karl Renz
  
• Cover : Paperback
  
• Language : English
  
• Edition : 2015
  
• Pages : 150
  
• Weight : 210 gm.
  
• Size : 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
  
• ISBN-10 : 9384363545
  
• ISBN-13 : 978-9384363543

Description:

The teachings of Karl Renz are a bit like Zen Koans — those short statements that stop the minds activity by contemplating their paradoxical meaning. But Karl takes you even further: pondering his words have the power to turn the mind back upon itself, toward our original awareness of Being.

A Little Bit of Nothingness is a unique juxtaposition between the dialogues of Karl Renz and the eighty-one verses of the Tao Te Ching. Here, the reality of the Tao — the unnameable, original cause of all that is — has the potential to become evident as our own reality, by the deep insights provided through Karl.

The search for happiness usually takes us on an outward journey where we find ourselves identifying with everything except "that which we truly are." What we really need is to taste a "a little bit of nothingness"— the absence of any kind of ideas that we have about ourselves.

No one sees this as well as Karl Renz, the German mystic-artist who, for the last ten years, has travelled around the world pulling the rug out from under our hallowed beliefs, leaving us blissfully wanting even less.

"Realization means that consciousness, which once was identified with an object, becomes boundry-less. It becomes conscious of being consciousness. But the Self is never realized nor not-realized. It is always prior to any ideas about enlightenment or non-enlightenment. Anything you can say about it is an idea."
  — Karl Renz

THE DEVOTIONAL POEMS OF MIRABAI offers the reader a sober English translation of two hundred of her Padas, based on the interpretative work of Indian scholars that has appeared during the last few decades. Three introductory essays deal with her life, her place in the Bhakti movement and the characteristics of her poetry. Terminal notes explain the mythological references to the non-Hindu reader, indicate some linguistic difficulties and record minor deviations from the fifteenth edition of Parashuram Chaturvedi`s MIRAMBAI KI PADAVALI, the basic text used.

Description

As a novelist and storyteller, I have always drawn upon my memories of places that I have known and lived in over the years. More than most writers, perhaps, I find myself drawing inspiration from the past—my childhood, adolescence, youth, early manhood… The stories and the poems float in through my window, float in from the magic mountains, and the words appear on the page without much effort on my part.

Ruskin Bond has been writing for over sixty years, in the course of which he has come to be known for his simple and witty writing style. These twenty-five stories form a delightful collection of some of his non-fiction sketches, his interaction with the natural world, and his life in small towns that has given him some of his biggest stories.

Bond’s journey as a writer has been a remarkable one and these stories show the master storyteller at his very best.

AUTHOR OF THE BOOK

Ruskin Bond has been writing for over sixty years, and now has over 120 titles in print—novels, collections of short stories, poetry, essays, anthologies and books for children. His first novel, The Room on the Roof, received the prestigious John Llewellyn Rhys Prize in 1957. He has also received the Padma Shri (1999), the Padma Bhushan (2014) and two awards from Sahitya Akademi—one for his short stories and another for his writings for children. In 2012, the Delhi government gave him its Lifetime Achievement Award.

Born in 1934, Ruskin Bond grew up in Jamnagar, Shimla, New Delhi and Dehradun. Apart from three years in the UK, he has spent all his life in India, and now lives in Mussoorie with his adopted family.

Specification

• Product Code : BK8710
• Publisher : Rupa Publications India
• Edition : June 14, 2017
• Pages : 126
• Weight : 100 gm.
• Size : 4.9 x 0.3 x 7.6 inches
• Binding : Paperback
• Author : Ruskin Bond
• Language : English
• ISBN-10: 8129147408
  ISBN-13: 978-8129147400

 

Description

English Literature: Its History and Its Significance for the Life of the English-Speaking World is an all-encompassing study of English literature from Anglo-Saxon times to the twentieth century. It interprets literature both biographically and historically by showing how each work reflects not just the writer’s life and thoughts but also the spirit of the age and the nation’s history. It also shows the development of the English literary canon in terms of complexity, from the earlier simple moral allegories to the complex issues addressed in twentieth-century writings. Along with works of literature, this book also analyses important events and social conditions in each period, the lives of important authors, as well as literary epochs. With helpful summaries, bibliographies and tables of chronological events, this book is the best possible guide for students to understand the vast pantheon of English literature.

Specification

• Product Code : BK8689
• Publisher : Rupa Publications India
• Edition : September 1, 2015
• Pages : 672
• Weight : 550 gm.
• Size : 5.5 x 8.5 inches
• Binding : Paperback
• Author : William J. Long
• Language : English
• ISBN-10: 817167772X
  ISBN-13: 978-8171677726

Description

Life is unpredictable and full of challenges. One wrong step and everything can come crashing down. In such a scenario, one often wishes for a roadmap of life, but how is that possible?

Bestselling author Radhakrishnan Pillai’s much-anticipated book, Chanakya in Daily Life, will help you navigate the rough seas of life and stay on course. Covering all aspects of life from the personal to the professional, it will tell you everything from how to begin your day to how to end it, how to choose the right job, stay financially secure, have a happy married life, raise your children the right way, achieve the perfect work-life balance and much more. Like always, Pillai decodes and simplifies the visionary king-maker Chanakya’s teachings from the Arthashastra and Chanakya Niti to provide solutions for any problem that might crop up in any aspect of your life.

Thus, Chanakya in Daily Life is the perfect guru who expects only one thing from the shishya—a willingness to learn.

AUTHOR OF THE BOOK
Radhakrishnan Pillai is the bestselling author of Corporate Chanakya, among many other widely read books. In this book, Chanakya in Daily Life, Pillai simplifies the teachings of Chanakya and shows us how we can use them in daily life in an easy-to-follow manner.

Pillai is revered across the country not only as an author but also as a motivational speaker. This book is highly anticipated by all his followers as it is the first one that covers topics outside of one’s professional life and has a holistic approach towards helping the reader tackle problems that they face on every front.

Specification

• Product Code : BK8681
• Publisher : Rupa Publications India
• Edition : December 1, 2016
• Pages : 285
• Weight : 230 gm.
• Size : 5.1 x 0.7 x 7.8 inches
• Binding : Paperback
• Author : Radhakrishnan Pillai
• Language : English
• ISBN-10: 8129144441
  ISBN-13: 978-8129144447

Specification:

• Publisher : Indica Books
• By : Gol
• Cover : Paperback
• Edition : December 31, 2003
• Pages : 58
• Weight : 150 gm.
• Size : 10.9 x 8.2 x 0.2 inches
• Language : English
• ISBN-13 : 978-8186569344
• ISBN-10 : 8186569340
• Product Code : BK14247

Description:

The Mughal dynasty of India began in the first half of the 16th century after the conquest of Delhi by Babar. After the death of Emperor Aurangzeb in 1707, the immense empire began to fall apart, while small hindu and muslim kingdoms came into ascendacy. Thus, speaking of the Mughals means speaking about that period of two scarce centuries that left a precious artistic and architectonic legacy for humanity, out of which the Taj Mahal stands out by its own right. Based on the history of the Mughal dynasty and the building of their most knowned monument, the Taj Mahal the imaginative artist Gol, specialist of historical comic and author of the comic book "A pilgrimage to Kashi" has created this great comic, mixing history and imagination. This comic book is not exclusively meant for children.

Description:

Sanskrit is indeed the language not only of kavya or literature but of all the Indian sciences, and excepting the Pali of the Hinayana Buddhists and the Prakrt of the jains, it is the only language in which the last 2 or 3 thousand years, and it has united the culture of Indian and given it a synchronous form in spite of general differences of popular speech, racial and geographical, economical and other differences, It is the one ground that has made it possible to develop the idea of Hindu nationhood in which kinship of culture plays the most important part. Under the shadow of one Vedic religion there had indeed developed many subsidiary religions, Saiva, Vaisnava, Sakta, etc., and within each of these, there had been many sects and subsects which have often emphasised the domestic quarrel, but in spite of it all there is a unity of religions among the Hindus, for the mother of all religious and secular culture had been Sanskrit.

Maurice Winterintz' work in three volumes seems to be the most comprehensive treatment of Sanskrit Literature. Prof. S.N. Dasgupta was approached for English translation of its 3rd Volume, after Winternitz death. Later he was approached by Calcutta University to undertake his own work on the subjects that formed the content of Volume 3rd of Professor Winternitz' work. Volume I deals with Kavya and Alamkara and Volume II is expected to deal with other Technical Sciences.

Specification:

• Product Code: BK8101-2
• Publisher : Motilal Banarsidass Publishers
• Edition : July 1, 2013
• Pages : 962
• Weight : 1.450 km.
• Size : 9.6 x 6.7 x 2.5 inches
• Cover : Hardcover 
• Auther : Surendranath Dasgupta (Author), Sushil Kumar De (Author)
• Language : English
• ISBN: 8120841107, 978-8120841109

Mano Majra is a place, Khushwant Singh tells us at the beginning of this classic novel, where Sikhs and Muslims have lived together in peace for hundreds of years. Then one day, at the end of the summer, the 'ghost train' arrives, a silent, incredible funeral train loaded with the bodies of thousands of refuges, bringing the village its first taste of the horrors of the civil war. Train to Pakistan is the story of this isolated village that is plunged into the abyss of religious hate. It is also the story of a Sikh boy and a Muslim girl whose love endures and transcends the ravages of war.

Khushwant Singh

Khushwant Singh was India's best - known writer and columnist. He was founder -editor of Yojana and editor of the Illustrated Weekly of India, The National Herald and Hindustan Times. He authored classics such as Train to Pakistan, I shall Not Hear the Nightingale and Delhi. His latest novel, The Sunset Club, written when he was 95, was published by Penguin Books in 2010. His non- fiction includes the classic two - volume A History of the sikhs, a number of translations and works on Sikh religion and culture, Delhi, nature, current affairs and Urdu poetry. His autobiography, Truth,Love and aLittle Malice, was published by Penguin Books in 2002. Khushwant Singh was a member of Parliament from 1980 to 1986. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1974 but retuned the decoration in 1984 in protest against the storming of the Golden Temple in Amritsar by the Indian Army. In 2007,he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan. Among the other awards ha has received are the Punjab Ratna, the Sulabh International award for the most honest Indian of the year, and honorary doctrates from several universities.

A couple of years after his father's death, ten-year-old Ruskin travels to Dehradun to spend his holidays with his new family. As he reacquaints himself with his mother, now remarried and with a busy social life, his stepfather and new siblings, a pensive Ruskin longs for his father's company, his stamp collection and the old gramophone. Trying to escape this unfamiliar place, he immerses himself in books and explores the forest glades, canals and bazaars of the little town, forming some unlikely friendships on the way.
After the much-loved Looking for the Rainbow, the master storyteller lends another backward glance at his boyhood years-a vacation that took place over seventy winters ago-remembering his days with rare humour, remarkable charm and twinges of heartache.

Ruskin Bond

"Ruskin Bond’s first novel, The Room on the Roof, written when he was seventeen, won the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize in 1957. Since then he has written several novellas (including Vagrants in the Valley, A Flight of Pigeons and Delhi Is Not Far), essays, poems and children’s books, many of which have been published by Penguin India. He has also written over 500 short stories and articles that have appeared in a number of magazines and anthologies. He received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1993 and the Padma Shri in 1999. Ruskin Bond was born in Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh, and grew up in Jamnagar, Dehradun, Delhi and Shimla. As a young man, he spent four years in the Channel Islands and London. He returned to India in 1955 and has never left the country since. He now lives in Landour, Mussoorie, with his adopted family."

Did you know that Brahma once had five faces?
Why do snakes have a forked tongue?
Do gods cheat?
Why does Shiva sport a crescent moon on his head?

The Trinity, consisting of Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu, is the omnipresent trio responsible for the survival of the human race and the world as we know it. They are popular deities of worship all over India, but what remain largely unknown are some of their extraordinary stories.
Award-winning author Sudha Murty walks by your side, weaving enchanting tales of the three most powerful gods from the ancient world. Each story will take you back to a magical time when people could teleport, animals could fly and reincarnation was simply a fact of life.

Sudha Murty

Sudha Murty was born in 1950 in Shiggaon in north Karnataka. She did her Mtech in computer science, and is now the chairperson of the infosys Foundation. A prolific writer in English and Kannada, she has written novels, technical books, travelogues, collections of short stories and non- fictional pieces, and four books for children. Her books have been translated into all the major Indian languages. Sudha Murty was the recipient of the R.K. Narayan Award for Literature and the Padma Shri in 2006, and the Attimabbe Award from the government of Karnataka for excellence in Kannada literature in 2011.

Full of wit and delicious observations, Mrs Funnybones captures the life of the modern Indian woman—a woman who organizes dinner each evening, even as she goes to work all day, who runs her own life but has to listen to her Mummyji, who worries about her weight and the state of the country. Based on Twinkle Khanna’s super-hit column, Mrs Funnybones marks the debut of one of our funniest, most original voices. ‘I love Twinkle Khanna’s brilliant observations and self-deprecating humour—she is the discovery of the decade’—Karan Johar ‘Fantastic, fashionable and funny’—Vogue ‘A woman with more than a few quips up her sleeve’—Open ‘Spot-on . . . she addresses pressing matters . . . in a light-hearted, breezy manner without coming off as a preachy martyr’—Huffington Post ‘An intelligent critic . . . [writing] is a craft and Twinkle Khanna has demonstrated she has the chops’—DailyO ‘One of the best columnists we have’

Young doe-eyed maidens cast bewitching glances in the moonlight. Birds frolic, flowers bloom in a riotous kaleidoscope and the shifting seasons bear witness to the amorous games of lovers. And through this boisterous celebration of beauty and bounty, timeless wisdom is dispensed through brief, colourful vignettes. In Three Hundred Verses, Bhartrihari, one of the greatest Sanskrit poets of all time, brilliantly expounds on our most enduring concerns and dilemmas: living, loving and leaving. Although composed centuries ago, these poems amply display the full force of his genius. Bursting with lush imagery and brimming with deep philosophical musings, these verses covering a wide range of themes that resonate even today—from the sensuous stirrings of passionate love to poignant reflections on life’s inherent transience; from notions of wealth and wickedness to the nature of fate and fortitude. By turns playful and wise, A.N.D. Haksar’s gorgeous and accessible translation captures the verve, acuity and erotic charge of Bhartrihari’s most significant work.

When my concentrated mind was purified; I directed it to the knowledge of the recollection of past lives’ —The Buddha on the night of his enlightenment Associated with the living traditions of folk tale; drama and epic; the Jatakas recount the development of the Bodhisatta—the being destined to become the present Buddha in his final life—not just through the events of one lifetime but of hundreds. Written in Pali; the language of the Theravada Buddhist canon; the Jatakas comprise one of the largest and oldest collections of stories in the world dating from the fifth century BCE to the third century CE. Generations in South and South-East Asia have grown up with these tales. This volume contains twenty-six stories drawn from various ancient sources; and each story reflects one of the ten perfections—giving; restraint; renunciation; wisdom; strength; acceptance; truthfulness; resolve; loving kindness and equanimity. A detailed introduction elaborates on the ten perfections; explains the forms of enlightenment as well as the structure; and the historical and geographical contexts of the stories. Sarah Shaw brings to life the teachings of Buddhism for the scholar and lay reader alike.

And below her hair; she would put on a garland and spend a few minutes just gazing into a pond; seeing her reflection and satisfying her desire before turning away and returning the worn garland to her flower basket The emperor Krishnadevaraya’s epic poem Amuktamalyada (Giver of the Worn Garland) depicts the life of the medieval Vaisnava poet-saint Andal; or Goda Devi as she is also known; and her passionate devotion to Lord Visnu. Krishnadevaraya’s unique poetic imagination brings to life a celestial world filled with wonder; creativity; humour and vibrant natural beauty. The mundane is made divine and the ordinary becomes extraordinary; the routine activities of daily life become expressive metaphors for heavenly actions; while the exalted gods of heaven are re-imagined as living persons. The poet’s ability to see divinity in the most commonplace activities is an extension of his powerful belief that god is everywhere; in everything; at all times.

An extraordinary detailed manual on statecraft and the science of living by one of classical India's greatest minds; Kautilya; also known as Chanakya and Vishnugupta; wrote the Arthashastra not later than 150 AD though the date has not been conclusively established. Legend has it that he was either a Brahmin from Kerala or from north India; however; it is certain that Kautilya was the man who destroyed the Nanda dynasty and installed Chandragupta Maurya as the King of Magadha. A master strategist who was well-versed in the Vedas and adept at creating intrigues and devising political stratagems; Kautilya's genius is reflected in his Arthashastra which is the most comprehensive treatise of statecraft of classical times. The text contains fifteen books which cover numerous topics viz.; the King; a complete code of law; foreign policy; secret and occult practices and so on. The Arthashastra is written mainly in prose but also incorporates 380 shlokas. Artha; literally wealth; is one of four supreme aims prescribed by Hindu tradition. However; it has a much wider significance and the material well-being of individuals is just a part of it. In accordance with this; Kautilya's Arthashastra maintains that the state or government of a country has a vital role to play in maintaining the material status of both the nation and its people. Therefore; a significant part of the Arthashastra has to do with the science of economics. When it deals with the science of politics; the Arthashastra describes in detail the art of government in its widest sense—the maintenance of law and order as also of an efficient administrative machinery.

Kalidasa’s most famous play refashions an episode from the Mahabharata, magnificently dramatizing the love story of Shakuntala, a girl of semi-divine origin, and Dushyanta, a noble human king. After their brief and passionate but secret union at her father’s forest ashram, Dushyanta must return to his capital. He gives Shakuntala his signet ring, promising to make her his queen when she joins him later. But, placed unawares under a curse, he forgets her—and she loses the ring that would have enabled him to recognize her. Will the lovers be reunited? The world’s first full-length play centred on a comprehensive love story, The Recognition of Shakuntala is an undisputed classic of the ancient period. Vinay Dharwadker’s sparkling new translation is the definitive poetic rendering of this romantic-heroic comedy for the twenty-first century stage. His absorbing commentary and notes give contemporary readers an unparalleled opportunity to savour the riches of a timeless text.

Three Women (Nashtaneer, Malancha, Dui Bon) is by Rabindranath Tagore. Nashtaneer (The Broken Nest), Malancha (The Arbour), and Dui Bon (The Two Sisters) are considered to be some of Tagore’s finest prose works. Subtle, full of psychological nuance, and lyricism, this is vintage Tagore.

This feast of smiles was put together giving the secret strategies and all the tricks of courtesans One of Kshemendra’s finest satires, The Courtesan’s Keeper is a delightful and rambunctious rendition of the life and times of the courtesan Kankali as she teaches the ways of the world to her ward Kalavati. From the attractive courtesan and her shrewd keeper to the experienced barber and the avaricious trader, the book brings to life the vibrant society of Kashmir Valley a thousand years ago through a host of characters, each drawn in vivid detail. With its terse narrative, directness and economy of style, and fast-paced action, the book is fully suited for the twenty-first-century reader.

Late medieval poems from Kerala that still resonate in every Malayali’s heart touchstones of faith in Kerala. Puntanam’s Jnana-paana may claim to be the first original modern poem in Malayalam; simple and innocent, it still speaks directly to the reader. Melpattur’s Narayaniyam is ‘the last great hurrah of classical Sanskrit’ in India; the poem excerpted here, majestic in its humility, describes a vision of the Lord. With his elegant verse translations, Vijay Nambisan brings these poems to a new audience. Also translated is a poem by Mahakavi Vallathol which relates the story of Melpattur and Puntanam’s meeting and how the Sanskritist scorned the vernacular poet. In his incisive ‘Translator’s Apology’, Nambisan explores the dynamics of Malayali culture; places its literature in context; studies matters of prosody; and questions the attitude of an elitist language to a regional one.