<p>Around the world there were several books written on Buddhism as Buddhism and Buddhist studies became quite popular in the twentieth century. This volume provides a sympathetic view of Buddhism and the practices associated with Buddhism. The author begins with a short biography of the founder of Buddhism Gautama Buddha followed by the positive and negative sides of his discourses and moral teachings given by him. The book talks about the different types of Buddhism practiced in India Ceylon Siam Cambodia Burma China Korea and Japan while ex­cluding Buddhism in Nepal Tibet and Mongolia. It also discusses about the rise and popularity of Mahayana Bud­dhism temples and monks in China sects found within Buddhism such as Zen Buddhism in China etc. the issue of clergy and laymen philoso­phy thought and interactions and adoption of various nonBuddhist elements in different places. Lastly it talks about the inter­actions and conflicts between the Buddhism and Christianity. About the Author James Bissett Pratt (18751944) was a Professor of Philosophy. He held the Mark Hopkins Chair of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy at Williams College Massachusetts. He served as the president of the American Theological Society from 1934 to 1935. He also taught at the Chinese Christian University Peking in 1923. He published several books such as The Psychology of Religious Belief What is Pragmat­ism? India and its Faiths Democracy and Peace Essays in Critical Realism The Religious Consciousness: A Psychological Study Matter and Spirit Behaviorism and Consciousness Reason in the Art of Living Eternal Values of Religion etc.</p>

<p>Descended from the Kakatiya and Vijayanagar kingdoms a discreet group of Hindu kings flourished in what is now modernday Telangana. Surviving into the colonial era these samasthan kingdoms found new and creative ways to survive in the Nizam’s Dominions while simultaneously negotiating with the British powers situated at Hyderabad Madras and beyond. Rejecting simplified notions of ‘civilizational clashes’ this book argues for a new perspective on power relations in nineteenth and twentiethcentury Hyderabad State. A classic in Hyderabad history this new Indian reprint edition now makes this chapter of Hyderabad Telangana and Deccan history readily available. About the Author Benjamin B. Cohen is a Professor of History at the University of Utah USA. He is author of three books most recently An Appeal to the Ladies of Hyderabad</p>

<p>History is a hot topic in popular politics of the public domain. Pressures from different kinds of ideological positions and politics of identities of various kinds put serious constraints on the practice and writing of history. Despite the challenges scholarship has continued to grow. Current historiographical thrusts illustrate how a whole range of themes and issues are dealt with by professional historians from a variety of perspectives with reference to sources and evidence. For instance issues relating to the complex interactions between religion and political culture are no longer being swept under the carpet. This collection of short essays and extended discussions on current research aims to intervene in public debates on what exactly happened in history. Given the situation attempts of this kind can possibly help in somewhat bridging the wide gap between serious academic research and misplaced assumptions of popular histories. Much as historians are accused of merely speaking to themselves (and boring others) they need to be taken seriously when intervening in public debates using specialized historical methods and practices. Historical research conducted in universities can inform popular debates in newspapers television channels social media and roadside dhabas for that matter to lift the discussion to an informed intellectual plank and to bring about historical literacy and civility in the public domain. About the Author Raziuddin Aquil teaches history at the University of Delhi. Professor Aquil has published widely on religious traditions literary practices and political culture in medieval and early modern India. His books include Sufism Culture and Politics: Afghans and Islam in Medieval North India (Oxford University Press) The Muslim Question: Understanding Islam and Indian History (Penguin Random House) Lovers of God: Sufism and the Politics of Islam in Medieval India (Manohar and Routledge) and Days in the Life of a Sufi: 101 Enchanting Stories of Wisdom (Pan Macmillan).</p>

<p>Music whether classical devotional secular folk fusion etc. is a form of expression which words and actions alone cannot describe. Indian music is quite popular both in India and worldwide as genres such as classical folk and modern fusion have gained immense attention and praise from music artists and laymen alike. This volume is dedicated to the study of Indian music from a musicological perspective. This book was initially published under The Heritage of India Series at the request of the said publisher’s editors. It uses tables and covers the classification of Indian music based on north Indian and south Indian traditions along with the description of nomenclatures used in Indian musicology. It explains the history and origins of Indian music usage of notations scales forms of ragas and its characteristics. It discusses the compositions made by Indian musicians and discussion on Indian and western music. The author interestingly also narrates the biographies of Indian musicians. This book is highly recommended for scholars and enthusiasts interested in the history forms and nuances of Indian music. About the Author Herbert A. Popley (18791960) was a Christian missionary of the London Mission Erode a translator and musicologist. He was known for his translation of Tirukkural composed by a popular ancient Tamil sage Thiruvalluvar under the title The Sacred Kural: Or the Tamil Veda of Tiruva??uvar. He held the posts of the Director of the YMCA and the Director of the Coonoor Cooperative Bank Ltd.</p>

<p>Analytical History of India is a concise history written for the general reader interested in the history of the Indian subcontinent. It stretches from ancient India from Vedic and Epic ages to the Mauryan history the ancient history of northern regions and Deccan. It also covers the entire medieval age of the Sultanate and Mughal rule the establishment of the English East India Company rule in Bengal and other provinces till the dissolution of the Company after the mutiny of 185758. About the Author Robert Sewell (18451925) was an Indian civil servant and a historian. He was posted in Madras Presidency and was a Keeper of the Madras Record Office. He was involved in the documentation of ancient inscrip­tions and also participated in the archaeological project at Amravati which was surveyed previously by Colin Mackenzie and Walter Elliot. His seminal work A Forgotten Empire Vijayanagar: A Contribution to the History of India is important to understand the history of the Vijayanagara Kingdom.</p>

<p>India during the medieval period witnessed the arrival of European visitors and companies which served the needs of their respective em­pires. They have left behind numerous accounts of their experiences which in turn served as an important source for understanding and reconstructing India’s past by British officials and modern historians. This smallvolume covers the profiles of various European travellers who came to India during the fifteenth to the seventeenth century. Most of the European visitors came from powerful nations such as Portugal Italy France and England and formed colonies in substantial parts of Asia America and Africa. This book covers the Christian missionary accounts active in parts of Goa and south India. It also covers the travelogue writers and other accounts written during the reign of Vijayanagar Deccani Sultanates Malabari and other south Indian kingdoms in the above said period besides the arrival of English travellers during the reign of Mughal emperors Jahangir (r.16051627) Shah Jahan (r.16281658) and Aurangzeb (r.16581707) as the English East India Company was founded in 1600 to serve English interests. There are also separate sections on famous travellers such as JeanBaptiste Tavernier Francois Bernier Niccolao Manucci and miscellaneous travellers who came during the Mughal era. About the Author E.F. Oaten (18841973) was a professor of History at the Presidency College Calcutta. He was a member of the Indian Educational Service and served from 1909 to 1928. He is the author of My Memories of India The Evidence Afforded by Them with Respect to Indian Social Institu­tions and the Nature and Influence of Indian Governments and A Sketch of AngloIndian Literature.</p>

<p>Based on the English translation of the French work Voyage dans les Etats du Grand Mogol by Archibald Constable Travels in the Mogul Empire covers a significant part of the Mughal period. This French travelogue is based on Bernier’s expedition to Mughal</p>

<p>This multidisciplinary volume brings together scholars and writers who try to come to terms with the histories and legacies of European slavery in the Indian Ocean. The volume discusses a variety of qualitative data on the experience of being a slave in order to recover ordinary lives and crucially to place this experience in its Asian local context. Building on the rich scholarship on the slave trade this volume offers a unique perspective that embraces the origin and afterlife of enslavement as well as the imaginaries and representations of slaves rather than the trade in slaves itself. About the Author Alicia Schrikker is Senior Lecturer in colonial and global history at Leiden University. She works on everyday colonialism in the Indian Ocean throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries through a focus on sites and moments of exchange and interaction. Nira Wickramasinghe is Professor of Modern South Asian Studies at Leiden University. She has published on a range of topics including identity politics colonial society and slavery in Sri Lanka and the Indian Ocean world. Her most recent publication is Slave in a Palanquin: Colonial Servitude and Resistance in Sri Lanka (New York: Columbia University Press 2020).</p>

<p>The Mughal emperor JalaludDin Muhammad famously known as Akbar (r.15561605) took a lot of initiatives to discuss the issue of religion. The Ibadat Khana built at the newly built capital of Fatehpur Sikri invited a lot of religious clerics from almost all of the religions prevalent during the time of Akbar. Jesuit missionaries from Europe came to the Mughal court to discuss and debate the doctrines of Christianity. This volume is an English translation by C.H. Payne in 1926 based on Jarric’s account of the expedition to the Mughal court. This book covers the Mughal period under Akbar’s rule. He gives a shorter description of Akbar’s administration judicial system persona and genealogy stretching from the House of Timur and early Mughal emperors. Discussions and debates about the Christian faith between the Mughal emperor and courtiers and Jesuit missionaries are largely covered in the book. Intricate details concerning the celebration of sacred festivals such as Christmas at Lahore the Feast of Passover Akbar's reaction towards the Christian tenets etc. are also covered. However a large part of this book covers the Jesuit activities and their missions in Mughal India and other parts of Portuguese India. Persecution of Jesuit fathers conversion to Christianity of various notable people and common folk. This book covers the last phase of Akbar’s reign. This includes the rebellion of Prince Salim later the Mughal emperor Jahangir (r.160527) Jahangir’s interest in Christianity including donation of land for building a church in Agra Deccan campaigns the assassination of Mughal chronicler Abul Fazl and the death of Akbar is also covered. This work is highly recommended for reading the latter part of Akbar’s reign from a nonofficial perspective. About the Author Pierre du Jarric (15661617) was a French Jesuit order missionary cum writer from Toulouse. He was a teacher of philosophy and theology. He took keen interest in topography history and ethnography also. His works include Histoire des choses plus memorables advenues tant ez Indes orientales que autres païs de la descouverte des Portugois. This work was frequently reprinted and widely circulated particularly after it was translated into by Martino Martinez III around 1615. C.H. Payne was a translator and a former educational adviser to the erstwhile Nawab of Bhopal. He authored books such as A Short History of the Sikhs GohuriIkbal (transl. into English as An account of My Life) Scenes &amp; Characters from Indian History as Described in the Works of Some Old Masters Tod’s Annals of Rajasthan: The Annals of Mewar etc.</p>

<p>After the Portuguese held its foothold in India in 1500 ad many European powers subsequently followed the path adopted by Casa da India when most of India except the South and North East were under various Islamic Sultanates. Whether it was the English Dutch Danish or French they made a fortune through conquests trade and subjugation of previous politics. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries with the decline of the Portuguese two great powers emerged: the English and the French and their rivalry are known worldwide. This book is based on the dominion of the French in India during the eighteenth century from an English perspective. The author cites the work of Abbe Guyon Col. Lawrence’s Memoirs Col. Wilks’s Southern India Captain Duff’s History of the Mahrattas and other contemporary works by British and French authors to write the history of French powers. The volume talks about the emergence of the French as a colonial power in the Indian subcontinent the governorship of La Bourdonnais and Dupleix further inroads into the Carnatic regions fall of Dupleix and his struggles with his adversaries leadership under Godheu and De Leyrit dominions in Chandernagore and Deccan and the subsequent decline of French rule in the nineteenth century. About the Author George Bruce Malleson (18251898) was an English officer and writer. He was initially posted in the Bengal Infantry in 1842 served as a guardian to the Maharaja of Mysore and participated in the Second Burmese War. He held the position of Colonel till his retirement in 1877. He authored several books on Akbar the French governor of India Joseph François Dupleix and the governor of British Bengal Robert Clive.</p>