Richard Lannoy's "Benaras Seen from Within" is a passionately insightful spiritual/aesthetic inquiry on the holy city of Kashi (Benaras). It is more a work of ardent love than a work of curiosity. It is more a work of the seeking spirit than a work of art. Teeming with the elusive cosmic energy that has pervaded the city of Kashi since times immemorial, his photographs and his insightful writings in this book are testament to his seeking soul, his acute eye and his brilliant mind that have fueled the creation of this monumental body of work.

Inspite of several scholarly and scientific studies undertaken of this holy city, Mr. Lannoy's work stands out as a unique and exhaustive seeking of its kind. For one, it is the result of a passionate dedication of a lifetime of love, energy and effort by this acclaimed Indologist. (It has taken him about five decades to accomplish this work). Being a trained artist, a scholar and a deeply insightful writer, his love for the country of India and his sincere reverence for the city of Kashi have all contributed effectively to create this spiritually rich and inwardly seeking work. His lengthy span of over five decades to research and document this book has been a boon to reflect on the ever-changing yet never-changing cosmic landscape of Kashi. (This is paramount to the unique quality of this work). Besides, it takes a deeply dedicated and spiritually aware soul to see through the distracting and distorted layers of the teeming microcosmic city of Benaras and to reveal the transcendental cosmic city of Kashi. It is amply clear through this book that Mr. Lannoy seems to be all that in addition to being a master photographer.

Through the lens, he has succeeded in capturing the elusively spiritual; the hauntingly mythic. (This, I think, is the most difficult and worthy achievement of a photographer.) His works in entirety are wrapped around this theme and are reflected all over in secret cues. His visual vocabulary effuses the language of the mysterious and taunts the viewer to search his pictures. Like Henri Cartier Bresson, he is the master of the moment, but very unlike Bresson, he is concerned with the spiritual exuberance of the picture than the merely aesthetic. His pictures are more felt than seen. Some of his successes enjoy a brilliant quality of aesthetic, insightful and the inwardly. Mr. Lannoy is also kind and reverent to the subject of his study. In his pictures, he seeks for deeper moments with the grace and expectancy of an earnest and seeking student. Pictures of the people and the abundant petite bourgeoisie are not pictures of the materially poor, but the spiritually rich. Some of his captured moments are events of everyday life : ceremonies, ablutions, prayers, journeys....yet moments that celebrate metaphysical insight and inquiry.

Through his pen, he offers a penetrative and insightful documentation on the holy city of Benaras. Steeped in myth, religion and spirituality; Benaras is one of the last remaining living ancient cities where visitors, pilgrims and scholars throng; attracted by the enigmatic energy that radiates in this place. As a peculiar convergence between the present and the past, the sacred and the profane, this pervading dichotomy of sorts presents a very unique challenge to the inquirer and Mr. Lannoy acknowledges this very nature by interspersing his works between words and pictures. In a sense, what cannot be conveyed with words is reflected within his pictures and what fails to be seen is written with acuity and ardor. With this hard earned creation of a lifetime, he seems to have collected the ripest and the most mystically beautiful fruit from the sacred tree of Kashi.

Mr. Lannoy's book is a seminal and masterly work of an artist and intellect in search of the soul of a cosmic city. In many ways, his works are reminiscent of the scholarly undertakings of the pioneer Indian art historian and original thinker Mr. Ananda Coomaraswamy. Like him, Mr. Lannoy is intuitively gifted in his ability to grasp the metaphysical leanings of his subject and writes with a passion and an inwardly conviction that years of patient seeking and searching have granted him.

I highly recommend this book for any student of artistic and philosophical seeking. For those in proximity to New York City, there is an exhibition of his works on display till the 8th of April 2000 at Sepia International Inc. Galley, 148, W 24 Street, 11 Floor, NY.

-Lokesh Muthuramalingam, February 25 2000, lmuthura@att.com

This landmark book is a life's work and sings a soul song of one of the most deeply beloved spiritual places, a place where religious life is still the center.

Lannoy's photographs have all too rarely been published, and this book would be a visual feast if only for the chance to see a master photographer at work, composing foreground and background moments simultaneously so that they breathe life and a story in a complete message.

The text is also the best piece of writing about Benares that I've read. So many books describe only the obvious and most prurient sites of Benares (the burning ghats, the naga babas) and miss the true depth and richness of the city. From this text and photographs, the reader looks at the numerous facets of this multilayered city.

I, too, must confess to having met and now knowing Richard Lannoy, as a fellow traveler in Benares, where I had the extreme good fortune to meet him and to accompany him on photographic jaunts throughout the city and its outskirts.

His running dialog about things Benarsi is a gift of the gods...For anyone who is interested in India, I would say this is the first and best book you should buy. You can learn more about the country, and a great city, from this book. An incomparable experience and hours of absorbing reading and looking...

This huge book about India's most holy city has two parts, either of which would be worth the journey through its beautifully produced pages. In the first, hundreds of photographs are cunningly arranged to lead us into the ancient, wonderful city where the Buddha first began his mission. The images take us along lanes and ways, up to rooftops, among pressing crowds, and down to the sacred ghats by the River Ganges; where Hindus have gone for millennia to cleanse their sins and burn their dead. In the second part, we get a lively description of the inner life of Benares--and by extension, all of India. This book should be read by anyone interested in Hindu art and religion, but also by city planners and would-be travelers.

Remarkably, the book spans over 40 years of thought and effort by Lannoy-- with a great caesura between the early 60's and the present. How this happened is that Lannoy began his project in the early 50's and worked at it for over 10 years during extended residences in the city. Then he struggled to find a publisher who would take the risk of printing so many rich photographs. Struggled and failed, and the photos crossed the oceans several times in steamer trunks, before finally coming sadly to rest. Until 1998, when the old sage, painter, and author of other books that are scholarly classics at last turns his eye again to this troublesome love of his youth. Now he takes up his camera for the first time in years and, armed with new possibilities for small press runs, returns to Benares for fresh photography, contracts a Hong Kong printer, works furiously, takes a huge financial risk, and at long last publishes this unique masterpiece, on his own, exactly as he wants it.

The fifties, for Americans anyway, are remembered as a time of great cultural certainty. We recall images--often in black and white--of an uncluttered land, at once carefree and supremely purposeful. India, we learn through these photographs, had a golden age of its own in this same era. But while America's purpose was transcendent materialism, Indians, newly independent, could at last strive for spiritual fulfillment in their own land. We sense this confidence, somehow, in the pictures and Lannoy is at pains to point out their psychological portent. It is as if he were an art critic analyzing the imagery Indians create by assembling, unselfconsciously, for their rituals and pageants--imagery which he is skillful enough to capture. For example, I might not have perceived the spiritual melding in crowds assembled for ritual bathing without the convincing captions Lannoy provides. Nor would I have seen the change wrought between the 50's and the present, when crowds have lost their unity of belief and become mere collections of individuals.

"Benares Seen From Within" works as a coffee table book. Many of the pictures are conventionally gorgeous and certainly exotic. But the collection is much, much more. Photographs are grouped, according to subject, in a more or less straightforward way. But within the groupings are subtle structures and by-plays with the captioning. For example, in one section shows a series of contact prints (miniature photographs are used to effect in several places). They show a mural painter drawing a devotional subject while a sahdu (holy man) regales a group of followers with a parable. At the climax of the story, the caption informs us, the muralist draws the pupil of the eye-the moment the image gains a soul. "Oh" one thinks and turns the page. There is a charming picture of the river side and a veranda. Turn another page and pow! A sahdu leans forward with burning eyes and points right into the lens. This moment, one realizes after paging back, was the climax of the story. Elsewhere, Lannoy describes the excitement and difficulty of photographing the Naga Baba, but without saying exactly what the Naga Baba are exactly. For this, and much more, we have to delve into the pages ourselves.

Earlier books by the Lannoy (Speaking Tree, The Eye of Love) have established his credentials as a scholar of Indian art and culture. Here, we get a more personal statement, informed by the passage of time, and insightful of the disturbing changes underway. The text is rich and lively-and illustrated with additional photographs. Where the detail is overmuch for a first reading, the layout allows one to skip ahead; and meticulous indexing refers one to the photographs for fresh examination. It is rare to get a book of photographs that contains such easy scholarship and it is even more unusual to get art and religious history enlivened with photographs that are art in their own right.

For all the pleasure, we are never far from a grim sense that Benares is under threat. Due to pollution, the Ganges is now extremely unsafe for even the most stalwart bathers. Urban blight and traffic has savaged the ancient city plan. Lannoy looks at this unflinchingly. Indeed the photography often acts as a time-series showing decay and loss.

At this point, I should confess that I have known Richard Lannoy for many years-since he was my tutor at college in England over 20 years ago. I can recall him showing us students some of the photographs now published. Tarot-like, he would deal pictures out onto a cloth laid on the floor, intone on their meaning, then whisk them away for a fresh set. They created a spell then that still enchants. In the truest way, this book is a gift from Richard-a giving back and a sharing about a place at once loved and mourned. Lucky us that he was able finally to not only show the beauty of Benares, but sound an alarm for the future.

I really need this book to help someone else out. If you have this book and are selling it, PLEASE let me know as soon as possible. Thank You!

Lo! Men and Women, This is the most interesting book about the oldest of all indian civilisation.A civilisation that was interrupted suddenly by the english invaders. I want a copy of this ---old or new, used or unused. please provide on your own terms and condition. this is surely a priceless book.

i want to read this book how can i?

I have owned this book for at least seven years now, and it continues to astonish me. These poems are brief, simple, universal, and beautifully translated. Most notably, Andrew Schelling spotlights Vidya, a poet that should take her rightful place beside Sappho and Japan's Lady Komachi. Although she wrote a thousand or more years ago, you read her and she comes to glorious life with what is, for me, some of the most erotic poetry ever written. Rapturous. Don't miss it.

Much of the available poetry translated from Sanskrit is still translations from the colonial period - translations which are accurate but stilted to our ears. Andrew Schelling has produced a translation which reads as poetry - as poetry that can be enjoyed without any cultural introduction - that can be enjoyed even more if one knows something of its context. An example: "Unable to cast / a semblance / of my girl's face, her dark eyes, / no doubt the moon / is reshaping its cold / disc, only / again to dissolve it"

Exquisite poetry in Sanskrit, exquisite poetry in English. Translations such as this create an easy bridge across cultures - and a step towards less European artistic norms.

The translation appears highly contemporized but the beauty of the sentiment comes through. I throughly enjoyed reading all the poems and continue to marvel at the power and transcendability of poetry written 2000 years ago. Have bought extra copies to give as gifts. Well worth the wait.

This sells in Delhi for 345 Rs (less than $10 US), but it's well worth whatever price Amazon is charging for it, and you would definitely want this book before going to Delhi, as well as to use while you're there. I wish there books this good on other cities, like Bombay.

I wish I found this book when I first arrived in New Delhi two years ago. It is an excellent resource for tourists, providing good, specific information on dining, shopping, and sights. I would also recommend it highly for diplomats or businessmen coming to live in Delhi for a time. It gives an outstanding overview of the city, and all that it offers.

The photography is excellent. I found this guide one month before I was due to depart Delhi, and I bought it anyway, for the photographs of the many places in Delhi I had visited while living there.

This is the best travel guide I have read on any city in the world. It helped me lot, and its comprehensive listings and beautiful pictures and drawings were awesome. Great history section that is good reading even if you aren't going to DEelhi. It's a must-buy!

Both a seer and an artist, Bruce Luther's Elements Of Creation is a fascinating and engaging autobiographical memoir, presenting a journey of circles -- of his discovering the cycles that embody life, space, time, thought, and death. Seemingly conflicting choices beckon at every turn, testing the human ability to remember the right path. A soulful and moving metaphysical presentation of the author's own life, Elements Of Creation is highly recommended, challenging, insightful reading.

In his autobiographical page-turner, Elements of Creation, Author and seeker Bruce Luther offers a tale of discovery that kept this reviewer revitted. That discovery occurred in India...and it forever changed his life.

Bruce Luther found the circle of life, the body in time. He writes, "The body is a vehicle for an awareness in which to experience reality. The body shifts space and time and moves it so that the awareness has a vehicle in which to see materiality. Just like the water passing by the hull of the boat, as one we pass through this awareness, the contact we make with reality has a startling impact on our direction."

Elements of Creation takes the reader, as it did the author, in and out of time cycles...sometimes into the past, and sometimes into the future. They can reveal "...every experience we have had and those yet to come." Like watching a motion picture, awareness of choices unreel exposing selections "...made from our core being, before we take a body." And so we learn that the circle of life is not life and death, but a test of our ability to remember our way."

Bruce Luther is a seer and painter. Elements of Creation is his canvas and the reader finds his words are bright splashes of color representing images he's seen since childhood. His journey into the circle dance unveiled the validation of his direction. Elements of Creation will hold you, shock you, awaken you and rid you of the beast that blocks your way to attainment!

Elements of Creation is a transformative book presenting the idea that your life is not your body, your experiences, or even an apparition. While reading this reviewer was nudged into a state of introspective meditation with a burning question-what is true reality?
The author is initiated into The Circle Dance and encounters The Beast while traveling in India with a companion. During the trip Luther discovered a mind-bending new reality about life, our body, and the concept of time and space.
With postulations such as, 'Death is a symptom of paying too much attention to time,' Reader, fasten your seat belt. It's a brilliant work, and an exciting, wondrous trip!

Fantastic collection of short stories about Sikh women throughout the century and living around the world. Some of the best stories I've read about women and their need to follow honour,but also the anger and confusion this causes in a rapidly changing world. Very moving fiction. All the stories are told with excellent subtlety. A very strong recommendation for a relatively new writer of short fiction.

Probably one of the best pieces of fiction I have ever read. In fact, I asked my friends not to give me another book until it matched Singh Baldwin's quality.

The narrative and characters remain with me two years later. What more can a reader ask for?

This book is a wonderful account of the Indian (predominatly Punjabi) immigrant experience in America and Canada. The author's lyrical prose brings the reader into each character's life on an intimate level, rather than making the reader feel like a casual observer. Although most of the short stories are told from a female's point of view, readers across the board will be drawn in by the author's in depth afinity for character evolvment. The short story, Montreal, 1962, is the highlight of the collection, with it's tearful account of a Punjabi housewife's ability to see beyond the symbolism of her Sikh husband's turban.

Great heroic story! Fascinating records of army and air operations over the treacherous terrain of the Afghan border. Shortly after the war, a pilot fights to keep his flying carrer with his appeals to King George VI! Does he win his? I'll save that for you!

This account of army and air operations over the Afghan border in the last days of British rule in India will intrigue a wide audience, from those interested in books on early plane and biplane flight to readers of military accounts. The author joined the Royal Air Force as a pilot in 1937, two years before World War II: his experiences in an antique plane provides a fine account of his adventures and close encounters.

I could not put this book down. What I found remarkable about FLYING BLIND is that Geoffrey Morley-Mower has already written one of the most engaging and insightful memoirs of any veteran of the Second World War, MESSERSCHMITT ROULETTE. Yet FLYING BLIND is, in many ways, an even more satisfying book. Here, in the second volume of his memoirs, we meet the man and the pilot on the cusp of living his dream: flying for the RAF on the distant edge of the British Raj. Morley-Mower's self-deprecatory wit, his elegant and understated prose, and his gift for narrative sustain FLYING BLIND with a verve rarely found in fiction, much less in military biographies. The men who fought the good fight in the Second World War are fading from us, but this book reminds us of their honor, valor, and above all, their humanity, in ways that few other books have. Geoffrey Morley-Mower's second volume of his memoirs, like the first, is reminiscent of William Manchester's outstanding remembrance of serving in the U.S. Marine infantry in the Second World War, GOODBYE DARKNESS. Like Manchester, Morley-Mower has no room for bombast and plenty of room for reflective, highly-charged prose. FLYING BLIND is a must-read for anyone interested in great writing. For military scholars, it is a jewel, as so few of the iron-backboned RAF heroes are still alive. Thank God Geoffrey Morley-Mower wrote this book, bless him. And, as Hemingway once said, good books never suffer in the re-reading. FLYING BLIND is richer in the re-reading. Enjoy.

The story starts in 1969 when, at the age of 44, Bill Stephens went
through a near-death experience that changed him instantaneously
from an agnostic to a spiritual seeker, erased his lifelong fear of death
and eradicated his crippling addictions. He "...exploded into a brilliance
beyond anything I could imagine, and I was immersed in the warmth
and joy of a Living Presence that loved me and accepted me totally."

During the experience, Stephens saw a face in the light that he later
identified as the great 20th century spiritual master, Avatar Meher Baba.
That was the beginning of the author's love affair with God. His
compelling book includes many personal and graphic stories
of the ups and downs of treading the Path of Love by following
the divine footsteps of the Master.

The author has written many previous books about science and the
oceans, marine animals, and undersea research. But this
is his finest work because it comes straight from the heart.

This book is brimful of God's presence. It weaves
His shining light between the sentences,
dancing with the words. The real-life vignettes are wonderful!

I was enthralled, inspired and tickled by the range
of potent, poetic images, intimate and
fascinating life details and real insight into
the nature, direction and synchronicities of
following a God-Realized Master in today's world.

Along with the inspirational material, superb
metaphors, and wisdom, I think the book
fills a significant niche. [Special appreciation
by the way for the material on Repeating God's
Name, tidbits like VP Gore's contact with
Meher Baba, and the light touch in much of the
poetry.] We've never before had published
biographical material about American followers
of Meher Baba that readers can identify with.
I admire the home-movie quality the author
brings to this volume.

Allan Y. Cohen, Ph.D., clinical psychologist;
author of Mastery of Consciousness (Harper),
co-author, Understanding Drug Use:
an Adult's Guide to Drugs and the Young. (Harper)

It is hard to believe that these beautiful pictures exist, they are such a superb window on to a world we know so little about. I expecially liked the informative captions that locate the photographs contextually and historically. As far as I know, there is nothing like it available on old India photography.

Such a literate, well-written photography book I have not seen before. Beautiful images that tell the story of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Kashmir during the 19th century. An excellent selection of pictures, told like a story.

I was so surprised to see such lovely pictures of Pakistan and Afghanistan, including places I grew up in like Lahore and Murree. The narrative is really interesting, and tells so much about the history that I did not know or realize. The photographs are truly amazing.

This book links the European and Indian Histories from the earliest days up to the present and helped me to understand the connection between Greek and Indian cultures especially during the Indo-Greek kingdoms. The article on Galanos brings new light in the previous researches on the pioneer Greek indologist and the chapter on the contemporary Greeks in India is very balanced and objective. I strongly recommend this book to all those who are interested to learn more about the cultural history of the Greeks in India

This book covers the entire history of the Greek cultural impact in the Indian civilization. I found it very helpful in understanding the connection between the ancient Greek and Indian philosophies and cultures.

This is a scholarly book on a historical topic that is rather difficult to research. Who were the ancient Indogreeks and what role did they play in history? What were the philosophical analogies between Greece and India? The sources are relatively few and obscure, and there is much speculation on the subject. The author has researched the subject meticulously from ancient Greek and Sanskrit sources.

Several years ago, other historians, such as Tarn, have published on the topic. This is a fresh view with a philosophical twist that deserves study and understanding.