Forms of Knowledge in India: Critical Revaluations

Edited by  Suresh Raval, G. M. Mehta and
Sitanshu Yashaschandra
 

Forms of Knowledge in India: Critical Revaluations is a collection that attempts to explore some of the major texts, contexts, and cultural figures like Gandhi and Tagore to give a sense of the dynamic and vibrant nature of the knowledge-systems India has produced since antiquity. Comparative analysis and juxtaposition of various conflicting views to question a given hegemonic perspective define the collection’s objective and mode of analysis. The essays analyze and revaluate the importance of some ancient Sanskrit texts, ancient Indian philosophy, ancient and medieval linguistics, Buddhish art, Sanskrit archival traditions, colonial and postcolonial discourse, and some of the works and projects of Gandhi and Tagore. These disciplines and figures are studied for their continuing importance for modern India and for developments for forms of inquiry in the West and elsewhere. The highly focused, learned, and thoughtful reflections and revaluations proposed in this book constitute a truly interdisciplinary project, representative of some of the best work being done in the various disciplines on India and Southeast Asia.
 
SURESH RAVAL is Professor of English at the University of Arizona. Author of Metacriticism; The Art of Failure; Conrad’s Fictions; and Groungs of Literary Criticism, he has also published essays in literary and philosophical journals such as ELH, the Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, The Monist, Style, nineteenth-Century Fiction, among others. He is currently writing a book on Kipling, Forster, and Tagore.

G. M. MEHTA is currently Director, Vidya Bhawan Rural institute, Udaipur. He taught English at Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Udaipur for a number of years. He had served that University as Dean of the Faculty of Arts, and Head of English Department. A specialist in English Language Teaching, he has been trained at the University of Manchester and the Unversity College of North Wales, Bangor, UK as a British Council scholar from 1981 to1982. He was deputed as an expert in English Language Teaching to University of Aden during 1977-78 by the Ministry of External affairs, Government of India. He has published research papers on English Language Acquisition and other allied areas in many Indian journals.

SITANSHU YASHASCHANDRA is currently UGC Emeritus Professor at M.S. Universtiy of Baroda. He was Professor and Head of the Department of Gujarati at M.S. University of Baroda, and has also served as vice Chancellor at Saurashtra University at Rajkot. An Eminent Indian Poet and playwright, he has published several books and articles on Indian and Western poetics, criticism and theory, and comparative literature. He is the recipient of many awards and prizes including National Kabir Samman, Mahakavi Gangadhar Meher Award, the Central Sahitya Academy Award, Narmad Suvarna Chandrak Award and the Padmashree Puraskar.
Contributors : Sheldon Pollock, TRS Sharma, Sundar Sarukhai, Amita Chatterjee, Probal Dasgupta, Purushottam G. Patel, Sinha Raja Tammita-Delgoda, D.Venkat Rao, Milind Malshe, S.N.Balagangadhara, Esther Block, Jakob De rover, Akeel Bilgrami, Vaidehi Ramanathan, Alastair Pennycook, Jasbir Jain and Fakrul Alam.
 
ISBN 81-85753-86-5           2008           408 pp           Rs.780.00 (hb)