From the
Publisher
Dehejia has tried to create a place within the main frame
of culture and philosophy of Indian art for a legitimate
analytic theory called despair. Dehejia's effort creates a
space for the modern within Indian classicism, by negotiating
the philosophy of despair in classical terms. As a result the
basic schism that has grown in recent years between the
philosophy and history of modern art, on the one hand and the
philosophy and history of traditional arts, is today closer to
being breached. This is no mean achievement.
Scholars, activists and observers of the Indian life and
contemporary arts will be grateful to Harsha Dehejia, Prem
Shankar Jha and Ranjit Hoskote for the scope and
innovativeness of their venture.
Harsha V. Dehejia has a doctorate in Medicine and Ancient
Indian Culture from Bombay University. He is also a member (by
examination) of the Royal College of Physicians of London and
Glasgow as well as Canada. He is a practicing physician and
Adjunct Professor in the Department of Religion of Carleton
University in Ottawa, Ontaria, Canada. He is married to Sudha
and has two sons Vivek and Rajeev, both of whom are
economists.
Author Description
Harsha V. Dehejia has a double doctorate, one in
Medicine and the other in Ancient Indian Culture, both from
the University of Mumbai. He is also a Fellow of the Royal
College of Physicians of London, Glasgow and Canada, all by
examination. He is Professor of Religion at Carleton
University in Ottawa, Canada where he teaches Indian
Aesthetics. He has published three books, The Advaita of Art,
Parvatidarpana (both by Motilal Banarasidass, Delhi) and
Parvati, Goddess of Love (by Mapin, Ahmedabad). He is
Curatorial Advisor to the Canadian Museum of Civilization. Dr.
Dehejia is a practicing physician and lives in Ottawa.
Prem Shankar Jha, studied at the Doon School, St.
Stephen College, Delhi and Magdalen College, Oxford. He holds
a B.A. in Economics and an M.A. in Philosophy, Politics and
Economics. After five years in the United Nations Development
Programme in New York and Damascus he returned to India in
1966 to become a journalist. In the past thirty years, he has
been Economic Editor of The Times of India, Editor of The
Economic Times and Financial Express and finally editor of The
Hindustan Times. From 1986 to 1990 he was the India
correspondent of The Economist, London. In 1990 he was
Information Advisor to Prime Minister V.P. Singh. At present,
he is a columnist for The Business Standard and The Hindu and
writes in several other papers both in India and abroad. He
has been a visiting fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford and
Center for International Affairs, Harvard University,
Cambridge and a visiting Professor at the University,
Cambridge and a visiting Professor at the University of
Virginia. Mr. Jha is the author of four books: India, A
Political Economy of Stagnation, Management Of The Public
Sector in Developing Asian Countries: a handbook, In The Eye
Of The Cyclone: The Crisis of Indian Democracy and Kashmir:
Rival Versions of History. At present, Mr. Jha is working on a
book on The Impact Of Globalization On International Peace. A
book on the capitalist transformation in India, China and
Russia is currently under publication. Mr. Jha has written
extensively on Indian classical music and dance and is the
co-founder of Baithak, a society devoted to the promotion of
Indian music in intimate settings.
Ranjit Hoskote, is a poet, art critic and
translator. In 1995, Hoskote was Visiting Writer of the
International Writing Program at the University of Iowa,
U.S.A. His publication include Zones of Assault (1991) (tr), A
Terrorist of The Spirit (1992), Pilgrim, Exile, Sorcerer: The
Painterly Evolution of Jehangir Sabavala (1998). His poems
have appeared in anthologies and various journals, including
The Poetry Review, The Lines Review and The Indian PEN
Quarterly. Mr. Hoskote won the Sanskrit Award for Literature
in 1996 and the British Council Poetry Society prize in 1997.
Ashis Nandy trained as a sociologist and clinical
psychologist. Nandy's research interests are political
psychology, culture of knowledge, utopias and visions, popular
culture and futures. He is presently Senior Fellow of the
Center for the Study of Developing Societies and the
Chairperson of the Committee for Cultural Choices and Global
Futures, both at Delhi.
Preciously, he has been Director of the Center for the
Study of Developing Societies (1992-1997); Woodrow Wilson
Fellow, Woodrow Wilson International Center, Washington
(1988); Charles Wallace Fellow, Department of Politics, The
University of Hull (1990); Fellow, Institute for Advanced
Studies in Humanities, The University of Edinburgh (1991);
UNESCO Professor, Center for European Studies, University of
Trier, Germany (1994); and Regent's Fellow, University of
California, Los Angeles.
Among Nandy's books are: Alternative Sciences (1980,1995);
At The Edge of Psychology (1980); The Intimate Enemy (1983);
Traditions, Tyranny and Utopias (1987); The Tao of Cricket
(1989); The Illegitimacy of Nationalism (1994); The Savage
Freud and Other Essays in Possible and Retrievable Selves
(1995); He is also a co-author of The Blinded Eye (1993) also
published as Barbaric Others, and Creating a Nationality
(1995). Nandy has edited two books: Science, Hegemony and
Violence (1988) and The Secret Politics of our Desires
(forthcoming); and co-edited The Multivlerse of Democracy
(1996). Oxford University Press is now bringing out an omnibus
edition of all his works. Nandy's works have been translated
into a number of languages, among them Bengali, Chinese,
Finnish, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Malayalam,
Marathi, Polish, Russian, Spanish and Tamil. He has also
contributed to major human rights reports on ethnic and
communal violence and democratic elections.
Contents
|
Foreword |
vii-xv |
| 1. |
Introduction-Harsha V. Dehejia |
1-7 |
| 2. |
The Sociology of Despair-Prem Shankar Jha |
9-25 |
| 3. |
From Ancient Duhkha to Modern Despair-Harsha
V. Dehejia |
27-48 |
| 4. |
Adi Purusa to Manava, From Primal Man to
Mankind-Harsha V. Dehejia |
49-94 |
| 5. |
Ancient Homes to Modern Homelessness-Ranjit
Hoskote |
95-113 |
| 6. |
The Dead and the Dying: Post-Modern Reactions to
the Despair of Modernity - Harsha V. Dehejia |
115-120 |
|
About the Author |
121-123 |
