breathtaking photographs,wonderful essays, informative travel and historical information about Sikkim. I recommend this book very strongly for anyone visiting/vacationing in Sikkim.

Great photographs, lucid text, all the essential nformation, makes me want to go to Sikkim instantly!!!

Internationally known cellist, teacher, author and poet Gordon Epperson wrote Sonnets From India while stationed there during World War II. They reflect the influence of the culture experienced first hand, after an early connection with Indian thought, the principles of yoga and the writings of Vivekananda and Aurobindo.

Each sonnet is a perception of truths that range from love and loveliness to heroes and heroines to the celebration of life. In Threshold, for instance, Mr. Epperson speaks (beautifully) to the sunrise---the beginning of a new day and his dreams. "I still have hopes that I may someday find/ What lies beyond departments of the mind."

Here is poetry crafted to express the human condition, clearly. And while metaphysical in tone, Sonnets from India is not otherworldly but, instead, an insight into what can be. In The Good Things we read that bliss is not material. Instead they include, "...love of woman; child; exquisite power/ Of lucid thought, and music; home and law."

Additionally, the reader will find nine free-form poems written in later decades. Five Oases is especially telling for this reviewer. Mr. Epperson writes, "Seek deliverance/ In printed words./ Travel/ Esoteric avenues/ Swallow vials/ Of curatives/ Prescribed by experts/ Knowing, known/ Tune up the viols/ Violence is abroad/ Seek deliverance/ In Hell. Or else/ Write off the Universe."

Sonnets From India is the kind of book you can't put down. It grips your heart and your mind with thought that begets thought. Gordon Epperson is a very special being---and that is reflected in Sonnets From India.

Recently I re-read this collection by Gordon Epperson, not in sequence , but sampling here and there as I felt drawn by a particular title or line.

The author actually says in his Introduction that the sonnets were not written as a sequence. His phrase " the congenial rhythms of iambic pentameter" is very apt, for it is evident that the poet has truly mastered the form as well as invested it with original content.

One must envy Epperson not only his felictous turns of phrase but the passion which gave rise to this inspired collection. Never mechanical , these lines address a basic mystery: "Who are you. . . . Who am I?" and admit no easy answers.

Of the many Indian art books I would rate this the best as it not only is visual but poetic and philosophical at the same time. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in reading about this Indian goddess.

This is an elegant book. It is at once philosophical, poetic, and visually stunning. The text and images beautifully complement each other. After reading this book, I not only appreciated the richness of the Parvati tradition, but also of the Hindu artistic and philosophical tradition. Never again will I look at work of Indian art as merely beautiful at a sensory level. Hindu art exists harmoniously within a cultural, philosophical, and literary context, as does this wonderful book.

This review lists the contents of Student's Britannica India. I know of no other place on the web where one can find the detailed contents of this set. I'll write a review with my comments on the contents of the volumes later.

Volumes One to Five - Articles from A to Z covering subjects related to India
Volume Six - A special volume with essays written by scholars and professionals
Volume Seven - A volume focussing exclusively on careers in India

Volume 1: Abd Allah ibn al-Abbas to Cypress ~ 570 articles (383 pages)

Volume 2: Dadra and Nagar Haveli to Hyena ~ 385 articles (392 pages)

Volume 3: Iblis to Mira Bai ~ 510 articles (406 pages)

Volume 4: Miraj to Shastri ~ 550 articles (390 pages)

Volume 5: Shath to zurvan ~ 400 articles (315 pages), index from pages 317 to 406

In each of the first five volumes, the first half a dozen or so pages (in a section named 'volume at a glance')contain an alphabetical list of articles in that particular volume and the page numbers where they appear.
In addition, Volume 1 also has a Preface, Acknowledgements, a list of contributors & reviewers and sources of illustrations. Volume 5 has a 90 page index.

Volume 6 - Select Essays (441 pages, divided into 4 categories)

Art, Culture and Sports
Art of India (Frederick M. Asher, 8 pages), Architecture in India (George Michell, 18 pages), Architechture - Temples of India (S. K. Ramachandra Rao, 6 pages), Narrative in Stone (Vidya Dehejia, 6 pages), Textiles in India (Jasleen Dhamija, 8 pages), Design in India - An Overview (H. Kumar Vyas, 8 pages), Industrial Design in India (S. Balaram, 6 pages), Design with Natural Dyes (Padmini Tolat Balaram, 6 pages), Design for Special Needs (S. Balaram, 8 pages), Toys of India (Sudarshan Khanna, 6 pages), Music - An Evolutionary Overview (Shubha Mudgal, 8 pages), Contemporary Indian Dance (Sunil Kothari, 6 pages), Cinema in India (Saibal Chatterjee, 8 pages), Sports in India (Rahul Sapra, 6 pages).

People and Society
People & Society in the Indian Subcontinent (Ralph W. Nicholas, 14 pages), Caste System in India (T. N. Madan, 8 pages), Scheduled Castes (T. K. Oommen, 10 pages), Family, Kinship and Marriage in India (Patricia Uberoi, 12 pages), Education in India (Shashank Vira, 6 pages), Religion in Indian Societies (Ralph W. Nicholas, 10 pages), Languages of the Indian Subcontinent (Anjani Kumar Sinha, 4 pages), English in India (Braj B. Kachru, 8 pages), Food - A Historical Perspective (K. T. Acharya, 14 pages).

Biodiversity, Science, and Technology
Biodiversity - An Overview (T. N. Khoshoo, 16 pages), Endangered Fauna of India (S. M. Nair, 14 pages), Birds of India (Asad R. Rahmani, 8 pages), Birds of Prey (S. M. Satheesan, 4 pages), Agriculture in India - Fifty Years of Progress (M. S. Swaminathan, 14 pages), Agriculture in Ancient India (Y. L. Nene, 8 pages), Sustainable Aquaculture in India (K. Alagarswami, 20 pages), Ayurveda (K. H. Krishnamurthy, 4 pages), Atomic Energy in India (C. V. Sundaram and L. V. Krishnan, 4 pages), Information Technology - Uses in India (T. H. Chowdary, 10 pages), Information Village (V. Balaji and K. Balasubramanian, 8 pages), History of Mathematics in India (R. C. Gupta, 14 pages), Oceanography in India (S. Z. Qasim, 6 pages)

Economy, Governance and Politics
Economic Policy in India (Shaymol Roy, 10 pages), Advertising in India (Sunil Robert, 6 pages), Public Relations in India (Deepak Mukarji, 4 pages), SAARC - The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Bibek Debroy, 6 pages), WTO - An Indian Perspective (Bibek Debroy, 8 pages), Constitution of India (Rajeev Dhavan, 10 pages), National Security (Kanti Bajpai, 8 pages), Sea Forts (Purushottam D. Sharma, 8 pages), Family Law in India (Jai Mukhi, 8 pages), Politics in India (Philip Oldenburg, 20 pages).

Volume 7 - Careers (425 pages)

There is a seven page essay titled 'Career Opportunities in India for the Twenty-First Century' by Usha Albuquerque. This is followed by descriptions of 77 different career choices from Advertising to Environmental Science to Medicine to Veterinary Science. Each section is divided into 4 or 5 different sub-sections. For example 'Environmental Science' is divided into What is Environmental Science, Branches, Work Areas and Specialization, Training and Education Required, Sources of Training and Education (A list of universities offering degrees in Environmental Science). The full list of topics and the approximate number of pages devoted to each topic is given below.

Advertising (4), Agriculture (8), Anthropology (4), Aquaculture (6), Architecture (6), Armed Forces (16), Astronomy (4), Banking (4), Beauty Care (4), Biotechnology (6), Building and Construction (4), Business Management (6), Civil Aviation (4), Civil Services (4), Coast Guard (2), Computer Science (8), Dairy Farming (4), Dentistry (6), Earth Sciences (10), Economics (8), Engineering (10), Environmental Science (6), Ergonomics (4), Fashion Designing (4), Film Making (6), Finance and Cost Accountancy (4), Fine Art (6), Food Processing (4), Foreign Trade (4), Forestry (6), Garments Manufacture and Merchandising (4), Gems and Jewellery (4), Horticulture and Floriculture (4), Hotel Management (4), Human Resource Management (4), Information Technology (6), Insurance (4), Interior Design (4), Journalism (6), Law (8), Leather Technology (4), Library Science (8), Linguistics (6), Marketing (6), Medicine (8), Merchant Navy (4), Meteorology (4), Mining and Metallurgy (4), Modelling (2), Nursing (6), Nutrition and Dietetics (6), Packaging (4), Paramedical Services (6), Paramilitary and Protective Services (4), Performing Arts (8), Pharmacy (4), Photography (6), Physiotherapy (4), Poultry Farming (4), Printing (4), Psychiatry (4), Public Relations (4), Publishing (4), Radio and TV Broadcasting (4), Science (8), Secretarial Work (4), Social Service (6), Sports and Physical Education (6), Stockbroking (4), Tea Industry (2), Teaching (8), Traditional Medicine (6), Tourism (4), Veterinary Science (4)

Volume 7 also has a 10 page 'Index of Institutions' at the end containing addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses.

It makes an excellent reading for any and everybody who is interested to know more about the magnificent and mysterical India from historical as well more contemprory perspective.

Although the title 'Students Britannica - India' suggested the product to be meant for school student's, but after flipping a few pages it becomes very clear that it is a product that would interest a much wider audience.

The volume on special articles also makes good reading. I really liked the article written by Ms. Shubha Mudgal on 'Music: An evolutionary Overview'.

M M Kaye bought India alive for me in her two novel's "The Far Pavillions" and "Shadow of the Moon" - in her autobiography I can see where her love of India came from .

She also brings to this, the first volume of her three volume autobiography, the same beautiful writing that she has used in her novels. She has a very easy and light writing style which brings her memoirs and her fiction alive. This first book takes us up to 1925 and her return to India after some time away back in England.

This is for those of you who love India, love MM Kaye - (better known as Mollie by her family) or are interested in the times of India under the Raj.

This is the story of a childhood filled with wonder and excitement of growing up in India as well as the sadness of leaving home and loved ones behind for schooling in England. The historical aspects were equally interesting to one who hasnt any been exposed to them before. The social attitudes in M M Kayes times to the people working in India were an eye opener - this book should be read by anyone with an interest in India and especially as Kaye says to counter balance the views of India in books such as Passage to India.

I purchase this book a few years ago when I first started sitar study.I found it a bit difficult to penetrate at first.

Nothing can replace a competent teacher (luckily for me I have one)which is probably the best way to get started. If there is no teacher in your area I would maybe suggest that you also get one of the beginner books on sitar and a couple of sitar videos such as the Ashwin Batish series to get you going.
After you have familiarized yourself with the instrument and its techniques you can start on the exercises in the book and progress on to the Raga compositions.
With some diligence you should be able to work your way through this book. It will take a few years of practice to learn the material in this book alone,but it will be well worth it.
It easily is the most comprehensive book written on sitar I've ever seen.
Buy this book while you can still find it!!

If you're trying to study Sitar on your own, you must somehow obtain a copy of this book. 418 pages - mostly of exercises! Weaving yourself - or rather, allowing yourself to be woven - into Indian Classical Music theory will not be effortless, but with a little diligence, you'll actually understand what they're talking about. I found this even better than Ravi Shankar's My Music, My Life, part iv of which is a sitarist's dream. If you read this, please get in contact with me at joscopt@yahoo.com.

(THIS BOOK IS AN ENGLISH VERSION OF THE ORIGINAL TAMIL EDITION)

Hi

The Original Tamil Book Thirukkural Is One Of The Oldest Written Books In The World History.It Was Written About 2000 Years Ago By The Poet Thiruvalluvar Who Is Called As Valluvar In Tamil.He Was A Weaver Who Wrote This Book In Palm Leaves.This Book Is Divided Into Three Parts.
1)Aggatupal
2)Porutpal
3)Kamathupal

The First Section Deals About The Way A Person Should Be In His Life.
The Second Part Deals With The Way A Person Has To Move With His Environment And Friends.
The Third Part Deals With A Persons Family Life.

The Poet Gives His Point In Two Lines.One A Total 1330 Points Are Written With Each Chapter Consisting Of 10 Points.

This Book Is Read Extensively In The South Indian State Of TamilNadu Which Is Considered The Cultural Gateway Of India.
This Book Has Been Translated Into English First In 1768AD And Then Translated In Over 40 Languages In Over 20 Countries -The Prominent Being Germany , France , Japan , Singapore , Malaysia And The United Kingdom.
Definetely Recommeded.

Hi

The Original Tamil Book Thirukkural Is One Of The Oldest Written Books In The World History.It Was Written About 2000 Years Ago By The Poet Thiruvalluvar Who Is Called As Valluvar In Tamil.He Was A Weaver Who Wrote This Book In Palm Leaves.This Book Is Divided Into Three Parts.
1)Aggatupal
2)Porutpal
3)Kamathupal

The First Section Deals About The Way A Person Should Be In His Life.
The Second Part Deals With The Way A Person Has To Move With His Environment And Friends.
The Third Part Deals With A Persons Family Life.

The Poet Gives His Point In Two Lines.One A Total 1330 Points Are Written With Each Chapter Consisting Of 10 Points.

This Book Is Read Extensively In The South Indian State Of TamilNadu Which Is Considered The Cultural Gateway Of India.
This Book Has Been Translated Into English First In 1768AD And Then Translated In Over 40 Languages In Over 20 Countries -The Prominent Being Germany , France , Japan , Singapore , Malaysia And The United Kingdom.

Definetely Recommeded.

Engaging book, sensitive to the art and traditions of the Rabari women, intelligently and intimately written. Of a very large library on textile art forms, this is one book I return to over and over. I hesitated at the price, but now feel it is worth it.

AN OUTSTANDING BOOK THAT COVERS NOT ONLY THE EMBROIDERIES AND TEXTILES OF THESE PEOPLE, BUT JEWLERY CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS AND A TEN CENTUARY HISTORORICAL ACCOUNT

I read this book when it first came out, and I really loved it. I still refer to the facts I learned within; just last week I was explaining Lapsang Souchong to an Irishman. I was left feeling that I knew Mr. Goodwin, and contemplated finding him and making him my husband, primarily so we could travel together.

This book is WONDERFUL! Be forewarned, however: you WILL begin to guzzle litre after litre of tea during the reading of this book. Mr. Goodwin gives an absolutely wonderful first-person account of his often hilarious travels investigating the tea trade, from its' beginnings in Canton to the present day. A MUST for anyone who loves tea - and I'd rate Mr. Goodwin's writing style on a par with Pico Iyer's. A good read, full of humour and information...

What a moving and inspiring poet! Ms. Khanna's literary power is her ability to majestically carry you right with her on her literal and revelatory journey. She successfully captures the reader in her struggle for understanding of her Indian and American backgrounds. I felt priveleged to have privy to her thoughts, and hope for a time again to enjoy her savory prose.
What do we have to look forward to, Van?!
Thanks.
Barbara R. Akin
Falls Church, VA.

What a incredible poet! You could feel the heat, smell the street and see the sights of India through Ms. Khanna's potent descriptions.