Orient Blackswan: 280 books

Over the past three decades, in the shadow of hostile nationalisms fueled by radical Islamic and Hindu politics, military crises, a runaway arms race, nuclear weapons and war, an amazing set of civil society initiatives has been taking root in India and Pakistan. A citizens diplomacy movement embracing...

Open Sesame is a series of activity-based environmental studies books. The Starter is for the pre-primary level. The books integrate science, social studies, handicrafts and language teaching in a number of popular primary school topics such as living and non-living things, people, animals, homes and transport.

This volume aspires to be a handy reference work for users whose interest is not limited to one or two Indian language literatures but spreads over Sanskrit, Tamil, Pali and the Prakrit as well as to Asimiya, Bangla, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi,...

There has been an extensive historiographical debate on the role of Western or allopathic medicine in the colonial context. However, most of the literature concentrates on the implementation and significance of public health measures, mental health institutions and the control of epidemic diseases;...

Cultural History of Early South Asia: A Reader presents a wide-ranging survey of the diverse art forms of early South Asia. In doing so, it departs from the dominant tendency of treating the arts as static ‘heritage of the past’ with just exhibition value, and instead perceives them as dynamic processes...

This book deals with the last phase of Gandhis life. The author was Gandhis secretary and companion during those crucial last years. He has drawn on his close relationship with the Mahatma, and on a wealth of documentary evidence to show how Gandhi dealt with the crises he experienced both at the personal...

The Intimate Other explores the theme of the devotional element in Indic Religions not only in Hinduism in which bhakti has become the dominant form, but also in Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and Islam. The essays by scholars of international repute, show the strength of this devotion to the divine as a...

Freedom and Beef Steaks explores path-breaking debates to do with the literary,  with identity, and with cultural authenticity in nineteenth-century Calcutta--- debates arising from the flux of creative and critical work in that period. The seven essays collected in this book range across a diverse...

The book is a study of khadi, the fabric that successfully transcended its commodity status to become a political symbol. Khadi was not just a symbol; it was a massive exercise in organisational establishment, in forging networks, brand-building, and ideological investment. Using a fresh andimaginative...

This book gives a flavour of the Indian response to modern science by analysing the lives and careers of four scientifically influential personalities in Bengal.

Situated in northern Kutch in Gujarat, the Banni grasslands lie on the border dividing India and Pakistan. It is home to diverse communities; while Muslim pastoralists form the majority, one also finds Dalit Hindus, and a community that is neither Hindu nor Muslim. Banni’s people, have for centuries,...

This work examines in detail the world of travelogues of a highly interesting culture-universe: the Bengali bhadralok. A travelogue is usually a crucial political/aesthetic text. Its very fabric is structured in space and power - it creates, relates, compares and contrasts spaces and powers. Bengalis...

Much has been said and documented about the multifaceted genius of Rabindranath Tagore. Radical Rabindranath is a post-colonial reading that focuses on areas that have been marginalised because of the more dominant and compelling desire in the West to establish Tagore as a transcendent visionary and...

This book deals mainly with the historical role of the most valourous and fascinating ruler of the eighteenth century, Tipu Sultan. Tipu Sultan has been portrayed by historians, especially by the colonial but also by some post-Independence Indian historians, as a religious bigot, a fanatic, a king who...