Not many know that the Jewish diaspora reached India two thousand years ago. Although the size of the Jewish diaspora in India was always small, it invites study because its history of sustained harmony sharply contrasts the Jewish diaspora in Europe, a history of periodic horrors.

It's fitting that the University of California Press is the publisher of the first comprehensive scholarly study of all three of the Jewish communities in India. It was a UC Berkeley professor of history, Walter J. Fischel, who pioneered the study of the Jews in India in his 1962 article, "Cochin in Jewish History: Prolegomena to a History of the Jews in India," published in The Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research. Inspired by his article, several monographs soon appeared on each of the three Indian Jewish communities.

In the introduction to this truly engrossing book, Nathan Katz writes: "Indian Jews lived as all Jews should have been allowed to live: free, proud, observant, creative and prosperous, self-realized, full contributors to the host community. Then, when twentieth century conditions permitted they returned en masse to Israel, which they had always proclaimed to be their true home despite India's hospitality. The Indian chapter is one of the happiest of the Jewish Diaspora."

The three Indian Jewish communities have a distinct history: the Cochin Jews arrived as early as the first century; the Bene Israel Jews of greater Bombay arrived, they claim, 1600 years ago; and the Baghdadi Jews of the port cities of Bombay and Calcutta arrived in the middle of the eighteenth century.

The largest section of the book is on the Cochin Jews. The connection between Cochin and the Jews goes back to the time of King Solomon (992-952 B. C.): teak, ivory, spice, and peacocks were exported to Palestine. The Cochin Jews claim their ancestors arrived in Shingly, near Cochin, on the southwest coast of India in 72 A. D., fleeing the destruction of the second temple by the Romans. They were allowed to settle in Cochin by the local maharaja, where many of them prospered as merchants, government officials and soldiers. Katz quotes from Mandelbaum's article in the Jewish Journal of Sociology: As late as 1550 "the Raja of Cochin refused to fight a battle on Saturday because on that day his Jewish soldiers would not fight; and they were the best warriors he had raised." Katz comments: "Probably India is the only country on earth so civilized that in war, out of deference to its esteemed Jewish soldiers, no battles were fought on the Sabbath."

The Bene Israeli community, which numbered 50,000 before emigration to Israel, 90 percent are gone to Israel, claims its origin to some sixteen or eighteen hundred years ago, they say, "when their ancestors were shipwrecked on Indian shores.... They came as refugees from persecution and political overthrow." Katz dismisses this as pseudo-history without elaborating. The Bene Israel divided themselves into subcastes: Gora, or White, and Kala, or Black.

On the harmonious history of the Jewish diaspora in India, Katz analyzes: "A crucial distinction between India and the rest of the Diaspora, however, is that in India acculturation is not paid for in the currency of assimilation. By acculturation I mean fitting comfortably into a society while retaining one's own identity, whereas by assimilation I mean that the loss of that identity is a perceived condition for acceptance. The study of Indian Jewish communities demonstrates that in Indian culture an immigrant group gains status precisely by maintaining its own identity. Such is the experience not only of India's Jews, but also of local Christians, Zoroastrians, and recently, Tibetan Buddhists. This striking feature of Indian civilization is reflected by each of these immigrant groups."

Although Katz is right in ascribing Hinduism's acceptance, even encouragement, of differences, I would point out that the Hindus extend hospitality to the outside groups to the extent that the outsiders refrain from proselytizing Hindus. For example, Christian missionaries are vigorously opposed by most Hindus. Even Gandhi was completely against Christian missionaries in India: "If I had the power and could legislate, I should stop all proselytising.... It is the deadliest poison that ever sapped the fountain of truth." The major cause of conflict between the Muslims and the Hindus for more than a thousand years has been the Koranic injunction to convert all infidels and to slay those who refuse [Koran, 9.5]. Unlike the Muslims and Christians, the Jews in India never engaged in proselytizing activities. The greatest of the Jewish strategies for living and prospering in India lay in what the Jews did not do!

As part of the project for writing this book, Nathan Katz, professor and chair of Religious Studies at Florida International University, interviewed many people in India and in Israel to provide the reader an understanding of "how these two great and ancient civilizations, Indic and Judaic, interacted within the very being of India's Jews.

In Calcutta, Norman Nahoum, one of the small number of Baghdadi Jews who remain in India, tells him: "We are taught to abhor idolatry to prevent its assimilation into Abraham's family of religions, but if you look closely you will see that Judaism and Hinduism have so much in common. In India, we are accepted totally, at the same time we are treated with kid gloves, like special guests." Referring to Hindus, Nahoum says, "These people are civilized; the others are barbarians, bent on proselytization. If you ask any Jew who has lived in India, from Cochin to Calcutta , you will find that although the Hindus are called idolaters, they are more accepting of Jews than those so-called new religions that grew out of Judaism." In Cochin, interviewees tell him: "Anti-Semitism doesn't exist in our Indian dictionary."

Katz has written a heart-warming, scholarly book on the Jewish diaspora India.

I've been interested in learning about the Jewish Diaspora into India for a while now and have done a little research on the internet but the websites did not provide me with as much information as I wanted. Finally I found out about this book and it gives a really great accoount of the Jewish-Indian groups-Bene Jews of West India, Cochin Jews of Kerala and the Middle Eastern Jews in cities like Delhi and Calcutta. It gives detailed account on how the arrived in India and how lived there with their neighbors and colonial rulers. The book also deals with how Zionism and Indian independence were both exteremely importatn to Indian Jews and how they were torn between these two philosphies because of their emergence to the mainstream at the same time.

In this essay Kak covers all the fundamental facets of the Indic tradition. He sheads light on previously misconcieved notions of the European view of India. A must read for any Indian. An enriching educational experience! The book was based off of lectures I saw @ Stanford.

'Subhash Kak presents what is arguably the most complete, articulate and up-to-date overview on the entire Indic tradition. More notably, he speaks not from a dry academic standpoint but from one in contact with the very soul and spirit of the culture. His panoramic view covers spirituality, science, linguistics and history, making clear India's important role in world civilization past, present and future. He dispels the many current distortions and misinterpretations of India, the cobwebs of colonial and Eurocentric thinking, and reveals her vast civilization in its true light. Everyone interested in India and in human civilization will be fascinated and transformed by his many-sided insights. They will never look at India again in the same way.' This is how David Frawley describes the book and I believe that is a fair assessment. The book is based on lectures at Stanford and California universities.

I read this book 15 years ago and have been in love with it ever since! Amy Carmicheal's story is one of great faith, love, and courage- a true role model for girl and women, even today. I recommend this book with the highest of praise.

In "With Daring Faith" a young reader will travel from England into India with Amy Carmicheal...a missionary that is still remembered in India today. This book recalls the struggles and miracles that founded the Christian faith in thousands of young Indian women.

I am so excited that this book can still be purchased!

When Amy Carmichael was a little girl, she prayed that God would change her brown eyes to blue. When He didn't, Amy's mother explained that while God always answers prayer, He sometimes says 'No'. Many years later, when she was working as a missionary in India, she was forced to diguise herself to rescue child prostitutes. It was then that she realized the value of her brown eyes and why her childhood wish had not been granted. This is just one of many instances in the life of Amy Carmichael, a woman who lived life to the fullest, because she lived it "With Daring Faith".

Gautier, for those that do not know of him, is an eminent French journalist. For several years, he was a correspondent for the French Daily paper, "Le Figaro", based in Delhi, India. In this book, Gautier has succeeded in laying many deep rooted misconceptions about India well and truly to rest. Of especial note is that this work was inspired as an antidote to Basham's book: "The wonder that was India". He brings a refreshing yet inquisitive journalistic style to his writing and convinces the reader that "India IS great"!

Gautier spans a panorama covering ancient as well as modern India; he poignantly dissects the mythical status accorded to Gandhi - how can a disciple of peace have as his "inspiration" the Bhagwad Gita, a "War Manual" espousing the principles of divine morality and "Dharma"? Also, how is it that a determined campaigner for independence and democracy dared to hand the governance of a party or country on the sole basis of his own personal whims? Readers will know of the Gandhi inspired fiascos that led to Nehru supplanting Bose as Congress President and also the unilateral offer of the Prime Ministership of India to Jinnah!

He also succinctly puts the shambolic policy of secularism truly in its place. Reading Gautier, one quickly realsies that secularism is at best a front to perpetuate the imagined prejudices against "minortites" and at worst a license to promote defunct marxist ideologies. In this respect, Gautier is quick to point out the rank duplicity of Nehru in creating within India the divisive and class ridden structures within government and education that plod on, in the manner of the living undead, even to this day.

Of course, the size of the book exposes it to gaps. For one, Gautier's exposition on the Sikhs is a little lightweight. Fundamental issues like the capitulation of the Congress to Pakistan's claim to the lion's share of the Sikhs traditional lands in the Punjab do not even get a mention. Neither is there any mention of the ethnic cleansing (kept quiet from the world) in what is now Pakistani Punjab! Contrast this with the multi-religious character of India which still attracts the pious and perverted fulminations of the secularist brigade.

For all this, Gautier has to be commended; he obviously has a deep understanding of India (unlike so many European correspondents) and brings this to bear in his writing. He is obviously a fan of Sri Aurobindo, making copious references to his ideas and works.

This book is an excellent review of Indian history. It was high time that the Nehruvian version of modern history of India was reviewed. Bravo Mr Gautier!

Once I saw this book advertised, I remembered the author's name as the man who made the super motion film "Ghandi" and I know that it was going to be a good book. I must say that I am very pleased wityh it and these words of wisdom can really be put to use in our daily lifestyle and help improve ourselves to become better persons regardless of religion or ethnic background. These inspiring quotes are well documented in appropriate sections such as : Daily Life, Co-operation, Non-violence, Peace, Faith etc. I would like to leave you with one of these valuable quotes for your kind consideration.

"I have learnt through bitter experience the one supreme lesson; to conserve any anger, and as heat conserved is transmuted into energy, even so our anger controlled can be transmuted into a power which can move the world."

It is like the Book of Proverbs in the Bible. Gandhi's seemingly superhuman insight on virtue is indeed deeply moving. I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to hear many of the words of the wisest.

One thing I really like about this book is the seasonal menu suggestions at the back. There's one for summer, winter, fall, spring. In addition to that though the recipes are great - some really good bean dishes and some new approaches to some old dishes - like the brown basmati moussaka. Lots of fun twists but nothing that woulkd make you question whether the dish will taste good once it's done or not.

A very good book, especially for making quick, healthy and great tasting vegetarian food. Recipes in her other book, 'Lord Krishna's Cuisine' I thought was not as healthy, they called for too much of ghee (fat).

Father Dumoulin's magisterial two volume history of Zen Buddhism is the standard English work on the subject and come highly recommended for any student of Zen of Eastern religions who wants a scholarly overview of the subject. My only caveat would be that this is NOT a history of Zen thought in the sense of a detailed analysis of the various philosophical doctrines of the various schools of Zen. Such a work would be much, much larger than this one. It does, of course, deal with these issues, but only in a very basic way, as one would expect from a general history. In short, it is the best general history of Zen available.

It's a real shame that this book is out of print. This is one of the great, classic studies of the history of the development of Zen. Volume 1 (this one) covers the antecedents of Zen in India to its development in China. Volume 2 covers Zen in Japan. I've only read volume 1, but I learned a lot about both the history of Zen and also its philosophy. Dumoulin is one of the great scholars of the history of Zen, and although he is not always philosophically acute, you will get some genuine insights into Zen doctrine by reading this. (Of course, according to Zen, the doctrine isn't really what's important!)

While this true-life story can't compete with the constant thrill-a-minute excitement level of a fictional Tom Clancy novel, the wonderful realities and historical remembrances portrayed here provide a down-to-earth documentation well worth a few hours of your time. The editor provides a unique and historically accurate documentary of the little-known life of her great-grand-mother, Rachel Kerr, mostly from her great-grand-mother's own hand. Rachel was a young farm-girl who married a minister and spent much of her life as a missionary's wife in India in the mid-1800's, far from the family she loved so much. The editor initially provides informative and interesting historical background material about Rachel's youth while growing up in and around Hookstown, Pennsylvania. Hookstown is a very small cross-roads town located in hilly farm-country about 30 miles west of Pittsburgh near the state border with West Virginia. The details of her life in this area can be easily verified through numerous government and individual archive records available today. Even many of the physical locations in and around Hookstown can still be easily traced and located today. Hookstown has now grown a little bit and is an interesting place to visit; but it still remains an out-of-the-way place which doesn't put much stock in trying to keep up with the hectic pace of the rest of the world. After the background has been properly set, the editor then smoothly brings in the real meat of the story through incorporation of an extensive verbatim series of letters written personally by Rachel, coupled with historical commentary where needed. These original letters provide an unusual personal and emotional insight into Rachel's exciting but challenging life as a mother and as a missionary's wife in the extremely dangerous and difficult environment of mid-eighteenth century India. The brief story of how the editor encountered her great-grand-mother's letters is itself a fascinating one. The stories these letters tell bring a real-life perspective to us that the movies have never touched. I became particularly attached to the book when I found out that the subject is my great-great aunt, that all the people she describes are my relatives, and that I grew up in her hometown locale. I also have a large, beautiful cross-stitch done by Rachel Kerr in 1848 at the age of 12. I always cherished that cross-stitch, even as a little boy, but, until I read this book, I only knew that Rachel Kerr was somehow related to me. I found the same beauty and sensitivity in this book that I always admired in that cross-stitch and it confirms to me what a wonderfully bright, talented, and unique person this lady truly was. Richard Hobbs

OV Vijayan is one of the world's greatest writers of short fiction. Unfortunately he has not received the publicity he deserves. This collection is superb; ranging from horrifying allegories of power and corruption to biting sarcasm and satire to stunning stories of transcendental mysticism. Vijayan has translated the stories himself from Malayalam, and his language is fabulous -- in fact, I have read the stories in both the original and in translation and I am hard pressed to tell which is better. The almost-Victorian language he uses for his tales of terror adds deliciously to the gothic horror. In his transcendental stories, his language is much more naturalistic. There are several masterpieces in this collection: the title story, about a simple peasant going to the jail to receive the body of his executed son; the brilliant 'Wart' about absolute power; 'Airport' and 'Little Ones' about the magic that underlies Vijayan's mysterious Malabar Coast, India's stunningly and lushly beautiful Emerald Coast in the state of Kerala. This collection has been reissued in a new Penguin India Collected Edition -- along with novels "Khasak", "Infinity of Grace" and the "Saga of Dharmapuri". Definitely recommended. I am amazed Amazon does not carry this Collected Edition as it only came out in 1998. On another note, "The Wart" is being made into a film by filmmaker Murali Nair who won the Cannes 1999 "Camera d'Or" for best debut film. Presumably this will be a good film. Also, Vijayan is busy at this time translating his latest novel, "Generations", another masterpiece, a semi-autobiographical family saga a bit like Faulkner's or Marquez's or Gunter Grass' work.

This is the best book I have ever read on Bihar.well researched,highly analytical, simple language, and very articulate.I was compelled to review this book way back in 1992 in Hindi, Navbharat Times,Patna. Mr Arun Sinha, congrats. I had expected a similar book on lallo prasad from you. are you listening? Chandrakant P Singh, Quality Consultant, Discovery Channel India