After the success of Learning from Mumbai (Mapin 2013) the authors of the Learning from India series continue their journey to unravel the lessons that can be learned from practising architecture and urban planning India’s bustling cities. This time, their focus is the country’s capital: New Delhi. Boasting numerous essays and maps, Learning from Delhi lays the groundwork for a series of interviews with architects and planners based in the city. Fresh talent finds a place in this volume, and is showcased alongside the work of established institutions. Abstract theoretical explorations are placed within the local framework through the perspectives of scholars such as Pradip Krishen and Mohammed Shaheer, who are familiar with the city and its buildings. These Indian narratives on Delhi and its developmental life are balanced by the take of foreigners such as Joeri Aulman. A special place in this volume has been reversed for Bas Losekoot’s remarkable photo essays, which bring the city to life in a way never-before seen. Learning from Delhi will be of significance to both students and practitioners of architecture and planning, as well as people interested in Delhi and its built environment. This book is supported by the creative industries fund, NL.

Spanning a wide spectrum of creative constructs emerging from varied ideations and genres, Rini Dhumal’s art is rooted in India’s culture and myth, coupled with her international exposure and imaginative spirit. A flexibility of approach adds an organic energy and innate beauty to Rini’s art. With its focus on the inner feminine psyche, it explores the potential and challenges offered by different media, from two or three-dimensional work in clay or bronze, relief or graphic art. In a fine assimilation of abstraction, myth, landscape and conceptualization, her art is threaded with the face, form and figuration of the ‘goddess’ in various incarnations of Rini’s own design. Her work also makes imaginative use of traditional Indian iconography – birds, animals and floral motifs all reminiscent of religious art, but re-purposed to create a new vocabulary of form and meaning.

Rini’s enduring art and aesthetics, with their distinct feel and flow, speak for a unique assimilation of the personal and universal. This book is an attempt to understand and appreciate the dramatis persona, review her creative journey and take the reader through the various stages of her life and work until the present, with its focus on an exceptionally impressive and extensively varied repertoire.

Contents: Foreword; Creative Constructs; Immersed in Tradition; Catalogue; Ceramics; Rugs-Tapestry-Glass; Paintings and Drawings; Bronze; Artist Biography

Chai: The Experience of Indian Tea is a journey into the heartlands of tea production, across the length and breadth of India, offering a glimpse into the history and culture of the people who cultivate it, the process of growing, the diversely beautiful landscapes, the rich traditions and the ceremony. This intriguing volume is a visual treat, that traces leaf to cup, covering the entire spectrum of the tea industry through wonderfully descriptive text and stunning photography; put the kettle on, put your feet up and enjoy! Contents: Preface; Chai the Indian Way; Ever Popular Chai; How Tea Came to India; Contemporary World of Indian Tea; Into the Heartlands of Tea; Picturesque Tea Tourism; Bounty of Assam; Divine Boon of Darjeeling; Bonanza of South India; Bouquet of Regional Teas; From the Leaf to the Sip; Plucking the Leaf; The Planter’s Life; From Nature to Man; The Tea Taster’s Verdict; Tea the Universal Brew; The Saga of Tea; Choices for the Tea Lover; A Cupful of Health; Recipes with Tea; Finally the Perfect Cup of Tea; Author Note: Rajan’s Vision / Rekha’s Musing; Acknowledgements; Photo Credits; Select Bibliography; Glossary; Index

Pahari painting – the name given to Rajput paintings made in Himachal, Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir states of India – has long been acknowledged as one of the great achievements of India in the realm of art. The authors of this book draw attention to fourteen Pahari Masters, whose work spans a period of three hundred years. The paintings come from as many as twenty different museums and private collections, the effort being to select such works as illuminate each master’s range as well as the processes of thought from which his art is likely to have sprung. Carefully, the essay on each master presents the evidence available on him, the known extent of his work, and an analysis of his style. Pahari Masters is a pioneering work of great significance.

In The Philosophy of Hinduism, Dr. S Radhakrishnan has explained the central tenets of Hinduism, its philosophical and spiritual doctrine, religious experience, ethical character and traditional faiths. Hinduism is a process and not a result, a growing tradition and not fixed revelation as in other faiths. He has compared Christianity, Islam and Buddhism in the light of Hinduism and stressed that the ultimate aim of these religions is the attainment of the universal self. Radhakrishnan’s analysis of religions is highly intellectual and balanced and his lectures have also received a whole-hearted response in the UK. The articles in the book reflect the mind of this great philosopher, who has been hailed as another Vivekananda.

Some years ago the study of arms and armor of the subcontinent reached a plateau where enough was known to allow curators and collectors a veneer of authority when writing and speaking about the topic. This book shows how very thin that veneer was. For political and more recently commercial reasons the cultural history of the subcontinent has been largely expressed through the Mughal experience of India. Whilst it is true that the Muslim Mughals dominated India the empire they ruled was predominantly Hindu. This book reclaims the Hindu contribution to the military culture of the Mughal period. The Rajputs were very closely aligned to the Mughals from the reign of Akbar in the sixteenth century but they retained their own distinctive values. The armory at Mehrangarh helps us to enter an unfamiliar world. A tradition of courage and self-sacrifice was conserved in music and poetry, an ideology so extreme that scholars have struggled to concede its existence. This radical book challenges arms and armor orthodoxy and is essential reading for scholars, collectors and dealers interested in India and its wider culture.

The history of the erstwhile State of Jodhpur is a record of heroic exploits, epic victories and magnificent gallantry displayed by its army. The Story of the Jodhpur Lancers is a remarkable narrative of the warriors of this Indian Princely State – prior to, and during the First and Second World Wars – and of how the friendship between an Indian Prince, Sir Pratap Singh, and British royalty contributed to the Allied War efforts. This book provides a comprehensive historical account of the Jodhpur Lancers – their origin, their deeds and dash and their role in the armies of British India and their Princely State. Featuring rare photographs, maps, documents and sketches, this book is a richly illustrated kaleidoscope packed with historical data assembled from a wide variety of sources, much of it previously unavailable. The author has taken the skeins of Jodhpur history and woven them expertly to create a fascinating story. Forewords by General Bipin Rawat, Chief of the Army Staff and Maharaja Gaj Singh, erstwhile Maharaja of Jodhpur, make the book even more memorable. The Story of the Jodhpur Lancers also reminds us, lest we forget, of the sacrifice of so many Indians who fought in the Great War and who died in foreign lands, as brave sons of India. The book contains detailed information about the Jodhpur Lancers and the mavericks who won fame at the Battle of Haifa in 1918, during the Great War. Ardently written and engrossing to read, it takes readers back to an era of royalty and pageantry, passion and valor.

Empirical evidence is scant and scattered. Between these fragments, historians have filled the voids with legends. Though legends are not evidence per se, they do carry a seed of truth – and hopefully, their incorporation in this volume will inspire new interest in the mystery of the world’s greatest temples. The engineering techniques that allowed ancient civilizations to construct such marvellous edifices have been lost to us for generations. Unfortunately, they have not received the attention they deserve, as relics of human culture and faith. This is especially true for Konark. In The Sun Temple of Konark, the author attempts to separate chaff from grain, utilizing scientific tools and methodologies. The Sun Temple has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is considered one of the seven wonders of India. This seminal volume is the result of extensive research by the author into not only the history and legends related to the temple, but also the temple structure itself. An engineer and architect by profession, the author examines the temple in great detail. He questions several of the established theories regarding construction in its various stages and forwards his own theories with reasonable conviction. He takes great pains to go into as much detail as possible with regard to each and every portion, monument, and sculpture of the temple. With 415 images and 21 detailed architectural drawings, the book is a treasure trove for any admirer or student of Konark, or a researcher of its art, history, and architecture.

This is the story of the magnificent Jodhpur Lancers – one of India’s most charismatic cavalry regiments – even as centenary celebrations begin of their finest hour, their extraordinary victory at the Battle of Haifa (now in Israel) in 1918. Indeed, the charge, mounted on horses against machine gun fire, at the fortified city then held by German and Turkish forces, is described by many as ‘perhaps the greatest cavalry charge ever on a regimental scale’, ranking alongside Cromwell’s Ironsides at Marston Moor, the Polish Lancers at Somosierra and the German cavalry at Mars-la-Tour. No wonder the Jodhpur Lancers were referred to as the Jo Hokums (‘As You Command’) by the end of the Great War – no challenge was insurmountable, no order ever refused. Laced with anecdotes and ‘inside stories’, Michael Creese traces the roots of the regiment from its raising by the legendary Sir Pratap Singh to its early actions in China. From the muddy trenches of France, to Haifa, Aleppo and Damascus; to its eventual mechanisation in the Second World War. Finally, and sadly, to its bureaucratic amalgamation with the Indian Army in the 1950s, where, against many odds, it has been able to retain a slice of its identity and history; the battle cry always ‘Ran Banka Rathore’ (‘The Rathore – Invincible in Battle’).

At the pinnacle of French power in India, Pondicherry sparked the imagination of those back home. Pondicherry was the French window on Indian culture, proudly seen as the Gallic Gateway of India.

For over three centuries this gateway witnessed the busy trade of spices, beautiful textiles, woven cloth and later peanuts in return for a steady flow of gold, silver, weapons, merchants, priests, soldiers and adventurers. Later, as the English tightened their noose around Pondicherry, the beleaguered French were caught up in their own fateful and impossible attempt to combine colonial and republican principles. History was played out street by street in old Pondicherry and the wealth of these experiences have left an indelible mark on the unique cosmopolitan city that is Pondicherry today.

The purpose of this book is to present a brief, illustrated history of these places that once were French.

In Hindi ‘pukka’ means genuine, authentic, complete. Design in India is not only determined by the aesthetic appeal of the object, but also by the significance of the object in the everyday life of its users. In some instances, the age-old practices established by ancient Indian wisdom determine the design of an object, such as the datun (neem tree twig) recommended for oral care or agarbatti (incense) used to heal and protect. On the other hand, the lota (a kind of metal pot) has been a part of everyday Indian life for centuries and its design remains unchanged even today. Pukka Indian, or Purely Indian, brings together 100 objects that are the most coveted symbols representing Indian culture and design. This illustrated book celebrates the diversity, versatility, vibrancy, and colours of design icons – ranging from kulhad to the kolhapuri chappal, Nano to the Nehru jacket, and auto rickshaw meter to the Ambassador – that set them apart in a country as multifarious as India. Each of these 100 profiles reveals the intrinsic Indian nature of every object, and how each has influenced design, culture and, in turn, every Indian.

Pahari paintings from the Horst Metzger collection, now in Museum Rietberg Zurich, are outstanding works by Indian masters who worked in the sub-Himalayan region between 1680 and 1850. This lavishly illustrated catalog of the works, which owes itself to a collaboration, yet again, between Prof. B.N. Goswamy and Dr Eberhard Fischer, is filled both with scholarly authority and poetic utterance. The passion with which Horst Metzger assembled this distinguished collection is matched by the text, for it throws open windows to a world of reflection and delight, close observation and soaring imagination. Together, the two scholars have, in earlier years, authored Pahari Masters: Court Painters of Northern India (1980) which accompanied one of the most celebrated and groundbreaking exhibitions in the field. Three decades later (2011), they were together again – along with Dr Milo Beach – editing and writing for the monumental, two-volume, Masters of Indian Painting: 1100-1900 which served as a guide to another path-breaking exhibition, shown at the Museum Rietberg Zurich and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Contents: B.N.Goswamy: Horst Metzger – The Collector; Catalogue; The Horst Metzger Collection in the Museum Rietberg; Bibliography; Ludwig Habighorst: Horst Metzger – My friend, the Collector.

This book is an ode to the mythological heritage of Bharatanatyam. The visual narrative captures the rich heritage of this temple dance and its original exponents, the Devadasis or ‘handmaidens of the deity’. Its repertoire of movements and moods bring alive the fascinating stories of Hindu gods and goddesses and their kaleidoscopic lives. In the following pages, the authors have traced the myths and legends that are cherished in our performing arts, to delight the culture-curious reader. And what is interesting is that in these stories, the reader will discover the inter-connectedness of ancient mythologies around the world. Perhaps such discoveries go a long way in validating the role that art plays in connecting civilizations. The book is designed to engage the reader without pedagogy or scholastic strictures, but with a lightness of touch, that entertains while it informs. Because the vision here is to weave information, anecdotes and trivia, together in the spirit of a popular cultural ranconteur. Replete with rare photographs curated from the Sohinimoksha World Dance and Communications archives, complemented by a lucid narrative that wraps facts in the language of romance and adventure, this book promises to be a collector’s item for those who value the legacy of India’s most celebrated dance form. For glimpses of some live performances by Sohini Roychowdhury, and her Sohinimoksha World Dance troupe, celebrating the music, dance, mythology of India and the World, go on-line to ‘Dancing With The God…. with Sohinimoksha World Dance’ at https://youtu.be/naR7p6SKiko

Born in the cradle of upper-middle-class privilege in a Mumbai Parsi household and educated at one of India’s finest schools, Kobad Ghandy’s life and career could have scaled heights in the bustling world of corporate finance. Only it did not. Instead, he chose to become an activist working for the oppressed of the country.

Shocked by the racism he witnessed in the UK as a student and learning of the horrors of colonial rule in India, he determined to serve those struck the harshest by the cruel inequalities of his country. Fractured Freedom takes you through the journey of an honest man and his partner, Anuradha’s, to a difficult destiny. Here is the story of two people who dedicated their lives in the service of the marginalized, and who believed that true revolution required direct action for a more human and just society. Part memoir, part prison diary, Ghandy bares it all looking back at their lives, love, loss and politics, so intrinsically tied together. Having languished in Indian prisons for over a decade, he tells of his long incarceration, of his fellow prisoners, and of the Kafkaesque experiences with the Indian legal system. This is the candid and unfiltered account of how an unjust system breaks the brave and bold-hearted. A story of life in extremes – the height of privilege and the depth of despair, a story of our times, of a path many would shy away from.

Ganesh Pyne (1937–2013), one of the foremost artists of post-Independence India, is no stranger to connoisseurs of art in India. His haunting images of intimations of mortality, the crepuscular light in his canvases, and his brilliant use of his own version of tempera are widely admired. But he was a shy, reclusive man, who has left little trace of himself in public memory. Memorialising Ganesh Pyne fills this gap by bringing to life the sensitive artist through a remarkable series of photographs shot by artist Veena Bhargava across two decades.

The portfolio of portrait and group photographs that capture glimpses of the artist at work and leisure also provide poignant insights into a very private person. This visual record is anchored by two essays: the first, by Bhargava, recounts her experience of taking these perceptive images; the second, by Ella Datta, analyzes the aesthetic value of these rarely seen portraits as well as Bharagava’s artistic experiment on a suite of photo collages featuring Pyne with elements from his works. A detailed timeline of politics and culture during Pyne’s life adds archival value to the book. The volume will be invaluable for Pyne enthusiasts and research scholars alike.

Published in association with Akar Prakar Gallery, Kolkata.

This interdisciplinary scholarly catalog examines Motherland, an important series of photo-performances by the acclaimed artist Pushpamala N. on the Indian nation personified as woman, mother, and goddess. The series shows Pushpamala taking on Mother India’s myriad personifications: nubile beauty and saintly renunciant; militant goddess wearing a garland of skulls or receiving the ultimate sacrifice of a warrior’s head; the mother-surgeon activating the birth of model citizens; and destitute widow, bent from years of abject labor. As she does so, she reveals that nations are invented, as are national embodiments. The artist’s burden is to reveal the ingredients of such inventions.

Karkhana takes us on a meandering journey through the Rajasthani city of Udaipur as we follow American artist Waswo X. Waswo, a 20-year resident of India, through a typical day of collaborations with a variety of Indian artists. From miniature painters such as R. Vijay and Dalpat Jingar, to the third-generation photo hand-colorist Rajesh Soni, to the phenomenally skilled painter of golden borders, Shankar Kumawat, we are treated to an intimate look behind the scenes of Waswo’s extended network of co-creators, as well as the photography studio he uses in the outlying village of Varda. Waswo and his team weave visual narratives that blend vintage miniature painting techniques with digital photography, the past with the present, and a self-effacing humor with existential angst. Karkhana is a word that literally means ‘factory’ in Hindi, but has lineage to the historical painting workshops of Persia. This book explores the continuance of this system of mutual artistic collaboration within a contemporized Indian community, and the manner in which Waswo’s unlikely team has come into the contemporary art market.

This publication was published to accompany the exhibition Homelands: Art from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, at Kettle’s Yard 12 November 2019 – 2 February 2020, curated by Devika Singh with Amy Tobin and Grace Storey.

Through photography, sculpture, painting, performance and film, tells stories of migration and resettlement in South Asia and beyond, as well as violent division and unexpected connections. The exhibition themes engage with displacement and the transitory notion of home in a region marked by the repercussions of the Partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, and the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, as well as by contemporary migration. The artists explore intimate and political histories, often contesting borders, questioning common pasts and imagining new futures.

The exhibition included new works and works being shown in the UK for the first time by Sohrab Hura, Yasmin Jahan Nupur, Seher Shah, Iftikhar Dadi & Elizabeth Dadi and Munem Wasif, as well as a commission by Desmond Lazaro working with communities in North Cambridge and a performance by Nikhil Chopra. The publication includes contributions by Nancy Adajania, Homi K. Bhabha and each of the artists.

From imposing railway terminuses in Indian cities to picturesque stations in small towns, the romance of the railways still remains. Indian Railway Buildings takes the reader on a fascinating journey through some of the most iconic railway buildings in India – buildings that were, and still are, landmark structures.

Featuring historic information and many rare photographs about the construction of these structures, the author reveals interesting and little-known aspects about the heritage railway buildings of India, such as Bengal Nagpur Railway House. It is the oldest and one of the finest classical revival buildings of the Indian Railways, and is said to have been home to Nawab Wajid Ali Shah of Oudh while he was in exile in Garden Reach, Kolkata. Focusing on the structures built during the mid-19th the mid-20th centuries, this book highlights the historical and architectural features of a significant number of railway buildings that were constructed during the days of the British Raj in India.

Extensively researched and packed with historical facts, this book is a treasure for all those who love to travel or explore the styles and designs of buildings from the comfort of their homes. Rediscover the romance of the railways on a journey with Indian Railway Buildings: Heritage, History and Beyond…

Somnath Hore was born in Chittagong (now in Bangladesh) in 1921. By the 1950s, he earned a name as one of the premier printmakers in India, and headed the Graphics and Printmaking Department at Kala Bhavana, Santiniketan. Hore started the paper-pulp print series Wounds in the late 1960s as a response to the Naxalite movement in India and the social unrest around the world. The artist felt the intense need to translate his witnessing of the many problematic realities into art in the form of ‘wounds’. He wanted to reproduce the essence of a cut or injury with his works using printmaking, turning to intense research and experimentation with the red and white colors and the light and shadow effect on a three-dimensional model to reach a satisfactory outcome. This volume talks about the series, its inception, making, and perceptions about and around the main theme.

Allah Baksh’s magnificent miniature paintings of Vyasa’s great epic, The Mahabharata, were commissioned by Udaipur’s Maharana Jai Singh, and painted between 1680 and 1698. The selection of nearly 2000 paintings, published in four volumes, are from a folio of more than 4000 extant works illuminating the Mahabharata. The fifth volume of 500 paintings devoted to the Gita, has already been published.

These radiant miniatures, which follow almost every story in every chapter of the Mahabharata, have no precedent in India’s art tradition. The emphasis in these paintings is not on heroic posturing and spiritual pride, but on the pain that the earth and its creatures endure when human beings tragically fail to fulfill their dharma. The images in the paintings are symbolically charged, their colors are clear and luminous, their lines are restrained and precise. Allah Baksh’s art of visionary thoughtfulness deserves an honored place in the great library of Indian scriptures and their visual interpretations.

Introductions to the parvas illuminated in these four volumes offer reflections on the moral resonance of the stories, as they reveal the fate of a civilization from its divine beginning to its fateful destruction. The Hindi translation of the Mewari text in the colophons, describing the story being illustrated, furthers our understanding of the history of cultural exchange between the different religions, regions and languages of India. Comments on the paintings in English enable the reader to decode the images and follow the narrative grandeur of this great Indian epic.  

Theyyam is a colorful ritualistic folk-art tradition of India, originating in the northern districts of Kerala. The performers are daily-wage laborers struggling to eke out an existence; and yet, when they perform at the estate of their masters, the latter bow before them with folded hands.

The alluring facial-body drawings with intricate and subtle nuances and the colorful paraphernalia, including various headgears in different shapes, are endlessly fascinating. The unpolished rhythm of Theyyam enhances its appeal. Concepts such as Mother, Nature, Fertility and Agriculture, Spirit and Ghost, Animal, Reptile and Warrior, among others, are worshiped as Theyyam which refers to both the form and the performance. Most Theyyams are women worshiped as Mother Goddesses and any devotee, irrespective of religion or caste, can interact with this goddess without the help of intermediaries such as priests.

Art scholar and photographer K.K. Gopalakrishnan has captured Theyyam in its myriad facets, with a variety of stunning photographs, from the insightful perspective of an insider. 

Take a tour through a select collection of homes across the length and breadth of India built by architects both new and experienced, conjured in diverse geographies. Hillside holiday homes, modern apartments in large metros, beachy villas opening out to views of the rolling surf – this book takes a look at well-designed homes crafted by architects working in India. Get the opportunity to look at everything from work-in-progress photographs to sketches, blueprints and the final architecture of the home as it all comes together in the pages of the book. Twenty architects, their iconic projects and how they are slowly redefining cityscapes and landscapes in the country.