Heroic Shāktism

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Publisher : British Academy Postdoctoral F
ISBN 13 : 9780197266106
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (661 download)

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Book Synopsis Heroic Shāktism by : Bihani Sarkar

Download or read book Heroic Shāktism written by Bihani Sarkar and published by British Academy Postdoctoral F. This book was released on 2017 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Heroic Saktism is the belief that a good king and a true warrior must worship the goddess Durga, the form and substance of kingship. This belief formed the bedrock of ancient Indian practices of cultivating political power. Wildly dangerous and serenely benevolent at one and the same time, the goddess's charismatic split nature promised rewards for a hero and king and success in risky ventures. This book is the first expansive historical treatment of the cult of Durga and the role it played in shaping ideas and rituals of heroism in India between the 3rd and the 12th centuries CE. Within the story of ancient Indian kingship, two critical transitions overlapped with the rise of heroic Saktism: the decline of the war-god Skanda-Mahasena as a military symbol, and the concomitant rise of the early Indian kingdom. As the rhetoric of kingship once strongly linked to the older war god shifted to the cultural narratives of the goddess, her political imagery broadened in its cultural resonance. And indigenous territorial deities became associated with Durga as smaller states unified into a broader conception of civilization. By assessing the available epigraphic, literary and scriptural sources in Sanskrit, and anthropological studies on politics and ritual, Bihani Sarkar demonstrates that the association between Indian kingship and the cult's belief-systems was an ancient one based on efforts to augment worldly power.

Nine Nights of the Goddess

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Publisher : SUNY Press
ISBN 13 : 143847069X
Total Pages : 376 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (384 download)

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Book Synopsis Nine Nights of the Goddess by : Caleb Simmons

Download or read book Nine Nights of the Goddess written by Caleb Simmons and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 2018-08-01 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores the contemporary nature and the diverse narratives, rituals, and performances of the Navar?tri festival. Nine Nights of the Goddess explores the festival of Navarātri—alternatively called Navarātra, Mahānavamī, Durgā Pūjā, Dasarā, and/or Dassain—which lasts for nine nights and ends with a celebration called Vijayadaśamī, or "the tenth (day) of victory." Celebrated in both massive public venues and in small, private domestic spaces, Navarātri is one of the most important and ubiquitous festivals in South Asia and wherever South Asians have settled. These festivals share many elements, including the goddess, royal power, the killing of demons, and the worship of young girls and married women, but their interpretation and performance vary widely. This interdisciplinary collection of essays investigates Navarātri in its many manifestations and across historical periods, including celebrations in West Bengal, Odisha, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and Nepal. Collectively, the essays consider the role of the festival's contextual specificity and continental ubiquity as a central component for understanding South Asian religious life, as well as how it shapes and is shaped by political patronage, economic development, and social status.

Śaivism and the Tantric Traditions

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Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004432809
Total Pages : 632 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (44 download)

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Book Synopsis Śaivism and the Tantric Traditions by :

Download or read book Śaivism and the Tantric Traditions written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2020-08-03 with total page 632 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Academic study of the tantric traditions has blossomed in recent decades, in no small measure thanks to the magisterial contributions of Alexis G. J. S. Sanderson, until 2015 Spalding Professor of Eastern Religions and Ethics at Oxford University. This collection of essays honours him and touches several fields of Indology that he has helped to shape (or, in the case of the Śaiva religions, revolutionised): the history, ritual, and philosophies of tantric Buddhism, Śaivism and Vaiṣṇavism; religious art and architecture; and Sanskrit belles lettres. Grateful former students, joined by other experts influenced by his scholarship, here offer papers that make significant contributions to our understanding of the cultural, religious, political, and intellectual histories of premodern South and Southeast Asia. Contributors are: Peter Bisschop, Judit Törzsök, Alex Watson, Isabelle Ratié, Christopher Wallis, Péter-Dániel Szántó, Srilata Raman, Csaba Dezső, Gergely Hidas, Nina Mirnig, John Nemec, Bihani Sarkar, Jürgen Hanneder, Diwakar Acharya, James Mallinson, Csaba Kiss, Jason Birch, Elizabeth Mills, Ryugen Tanemura, Anthony Tribe, and Parul Dave-Mukherji.

Sacred Kingship in World History

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Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 0231555407
Total Pages : 653 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (315 download)

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Book Synopsis Sacred Kingship in World History by : A. Azfar Moin

Download or read book Sacred Kingship in World History written by A. Azfar Moin and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2022-05-10 with total page 653 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sacred kingship has been the core political form, in small-scale societies and in vast empires, for much of world history. This collaborative and interdisciplinary book recasts the relationship between religion and politics by exploring this institution in long-term and global comparative perspective. Editors A. Azfar Moin and Alan Strathern present a theoretical framework for understanding sacred kingship, which leading scholars reflect on and respond to in a series of essays. They distinguish between two separate but complementary religious tendencies, immanentism and transcendentalism, which mold kings into divinized or righteous rulers, respectively. Whereas immanence demands priestly and cosmic rites from kings to sustain the flourishing of life, transcendence turns the focus to salvation and subordinates rulers to higher ethical objectives. Secular modernity does not end the struggle between immanence and transcendence—flourishing and righteousness—but only displaces it from kings onto nations and individuals. After an essay by Marshall Sahlins that ranges from the Pacific to the Arctic, the book contains chapters on religion and kingship in settings as far-flung as ancient Egypt, classical Greece, medieval Islam, Mughal India, modern European drama, and ISIS. Sacred Kingship in World History sheds new light on how religion has constructed rulership, with implications spanning global history, religious studies, political theory, and anthropology.

A Garland of Forgotten Goddesses

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Publisher : University of California Press
ISBN 13 : 0520375750
Total Pages : 374 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (23 download)

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Book Synopsis A Garland of Forgotten Goddesses by : Michael Slouber

Download or read book A Garland of Forgotten Goddesses written by Michael Slouber and published by University of California Press. This book was released on 2020-12-22 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Imagining the divine as female is rare—even controversial—in most religions. Hinduism, by contrast, preserves a rich and continuous tradition of goddess worship. A Garland of Forgotten Goddesses conveys the diversity of this tradition by bringing together a fresh array of captivating and largely overlooked Hindu goddess tales from different regions. As the first such anthology of goddess narratives in translation, this collection highlights a range of sources from ancient myths to modern lore. The goddesses featured here battle demons, perform miracles, and grant rare Tantric visions to their devotees. Each translation is paired with a short essay that explains the goddess’s historical and social context, elucidating the ways religion adapts to changing times.

The Goddess and the King in Indian Myth

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 0429880685
Total Pages : 300 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (298 download)

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Book Synopsis The Goddess and the King in Indian Myth by : Raj Balkaran

Download or read book The Goddess and the King in Indian Myth written by Raj Balkaran and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-07-27 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Sanskrit narrative text Devī Māhātmya, “The Greatness of The Goddess,” extols the triumphs of an all-powerful Goddess, Durgā, over universe-imperiling demons. These exploits are embedded in an intriguing frame narrative: a deposed king solicits the counsel of a forest-dwelling ascetic, who narrates the tripartite acts of Durgā which comprise the main body of the text. It is a centrally important early text about the Great Goddess, which has significance to the broader field of Purāṇic Studies. This book analyzes the Devī Māhātmya and argues that its frame narrative cleverly engages a dichotomy at the heart of Hinduism: the opposing ideals of asceticism and kingship. These ideals comprise two strands of what is referred to herein as the dharmic double helix. It decodes the symbolism of encounters between forest hermits and exiled kings through the lens of the dharmic double helix, demonstrating the extent to which this common narrative trope masterfully encodes the ambivalence of brāhmaṇic ideology. Engaging the tension between the moral necessity for nonviolence and the sociopolitical necessity for violence, the book deconstructs the ideological ambivalence throughout the Devī Māhātmya to demonstrate that its frame narrative invariably sheds light on its core content. Its very structure serves to emphasize a theme that prevails throughout the text, one inalienable to the rubric of the episodes themselves: sovereignty on both cosmic and mundane scales. The book sheds new light on the content of the Devī Māhātmya and contextualizes it within the framework of important debates within early Hinduism. It will be of interest to academics in the fields of Asian Religion, Hindu Studies, Goddess Studies, South Asian Studies, Narrative Studies and comparative literature.

Vysa Redux

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Publisher : Anthem Press
ISBN 13 : 1785270737
Total Pages : 134 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (852 download)

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Book Synopsis Vysa Redux by : Kevin McGrath

Download or read book Vysa Redux written by Kevin McGrath and published by Anthem Press. This book was released on 2019-06-20 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vyāsa is the primary creative poet of the Sanskrit epic Mahābhārata and 'Vyāsa Redux' examines the many paradoxical dimensions of his narrative virtuosity in the poem where the poet is both the creator of the work and a character within it. The book also studies elements in the poem which have been received by the late Bronze Age poets who composed the figure of Vyāsa, elements that reflect kinship, polity and modes of mnemonic inspiration. Three paired concepts function within the poem’s narrative process: first, the central approach of the book is founded upon the distinction between plot and story, that is, the causal relation of events as opposed to the temporal relation of events. Second, much of the argument then engages with how this distinction relates to the difference between the preliterate and literate phases of our present text. Third, the nature of how inspiration functions and how edition operates becomes another vital component in our analytic process explaining how Vyāsa becomes a dramatic, causal and at times prophetic character in the poem’s narration as well as its originator.

Tantra, Ritual Performance, and Politics in Nepal and Kerala

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Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004439021
Total Pages : 308 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (44 download)

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Book Synopsis Tantra, Ritual Performance, and Politics in Nepal and Kerala by : Matthew Martin

Download or read book Tantra, Ritual Performance, and Politics in Nepal and Kerala written by Matthew Martin and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2020-08-10 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For the first time, Tantra, Ritual Performance and Politics in Nepal and Kerala offers a comparative approach to Tantric mediumship as observed in two locales: Navadurgā rituals in Bhaktapur, Nepal, and Teyyāṭṭam in North Kerala.

Heroic Shāktism

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Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780191865213
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (652 download)

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Book Synopsis Heroic Shāktism by : Bihani Sarkar

Download or read book Heroic Shāktism written by Bihani Sarkar and published by . This book was released on with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Heroic 'Saktism is the belief that a good king and a true warrior must worship the goddess Durga, the form and substance of kingship. This belief formed the bedrock of ancient Indian practices of cultivating political power. Wildly dangerous and serenely benevolent at one and the same time, the goddess's charismatic split nature promised rewards for a hero and king and success in risky ventures. This work is the first expansive historical treatment of the cult of Durga and the role it played in shaping ideas and rituals of heroism in India between the 3rd and the 12th centuries CE.

Heroes and Heritage

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Author :
Publisher : Leiden University Press
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 268 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Heroes and Heritage by : Th Damsteegt

Download or read book Heroes and Heritage written by Th Damsteegt and published by Leiden University Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An analysis of the role of the protagonist is central to text interpretation. Providing examples of such analyses, the fourteen articles in this volume deal with the protagonist in mainly 20th century North Indian films and literary texts. Basically, they aim to answer two questions: what techniques have been used by the author (or director) to present a specific protagonist, and what ideas or even ideology may have inspired the author to create that character. The latter question, concerning the view of life or society that has consciously or unconsciously influenced the creator of a South Asian text or film, has occasionally been investigated in the past, too, but here answers are argued on the basis of an analysis of narrative techniques rather than an intuitive approach. Besides a historical survey of protagonists in 20th century Hindi literature, this volume offers detailed discussions of a wide variety of 'heroes' - among them children, aged men, courtesans, women fighting for Independence, and Urdu poets. The literary texts analysed here belong to various genres (novel, short story, drama, poetry), and the papers demonstrate several analytical methods, such as narratology, film analysis, feminist literary analysis, and postcolonial studies.

Hinduism For Dummies

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Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 0470878584
Total Pages : 397 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (78 download)

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Book Synopsis Hinduism For Dummies by : Amrutur V. Srinivasan

Download or read book Hinduism For Dummies written by Amrutur V. Srinivasan and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-07-12 with total page 397 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Your hands-on guide to one of the world's major religions The dominant religion of India, "Hinduism" refers to a wide variety of religious traditions and philosophies that have developed over thousands of years. Today, the United States is home to approximately one million Hindus. If you've heard of this ancient religion and are looking for a reference that explains the intricacies of the customs, practices, and teachings of this ancient spiritual system, Hinduism For Dummies is for you! Provides a thorough introduction to this earliest and popular world belief system Information on the rites, rituals, deities, and teachings associated with the practice of Hinduism Explores the history and teachings of the Vedas, Brahmans, and Upanishads Offers insight into the modern daily practice of Hinduism around the world Continuing the Dummies tradition of making the world's religions engaging and accessible to everyone, Hinduism For Dummies is your hands-on, friendly guide to this fascinating religion.

Shakti

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Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1594777853
Total Pages : 275 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (947 download)

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Book Synopsis Shakti by : Vanamali

Download or read book Shakti written by Vanamali and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2008-07-21 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents the mystery of the Divine Mother in all her manifold aspects • Explores more than 30 different goddess aspects of the Shakti force, both beneficial and malefic • Includes Sanskrit hymns and classic verses by Sri Auribindo for each of the goddesses Shakti is synonymous with the Devi, the Divine Mother or divine power that manifests, sustains, and transforms the universe. She is the womb of all creatures, and it is through her that the One becomes the many. Our first and primary relationship to the world is through the mother, the source of love, security, and nourishment. Extending this relationship to worship of a cosmic being as mother was a natural step found not only in the Shakti cult of Hinduism but also in ancient Greek, Egyptian, and Babylonian cultures. Shakti presents more than 30 goddess incarnations of the Divine Mother that represent both the beneficial and malefic aspects of the Shakti force. From Lakshmi, Parvati, and Saraswati to Durga, Chandika, and Kali--each of the different functions of the female goddesses in the Hindu pantheon is revealed, accompanied by traditional Sanskrit hymns, classic verses by Sri Auribindo, and discussions of tantric philosophy. The author draws from the Devi Bhagavatham, which describes all the stories of Shakti, and the Devi Mahatmyam, the most powerful scriptural text that glorifies Shakti in her form as Durga. Using these texts she shows that through the power and grace of the Divine Mother we may be released from the darkness of ignorance and taken to the abode of knowledge, immortality, and bliss--the source from which we have come.

Ramayana

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Author :
Publisher : Flame Tree Collections
ISBN 13 : 9781839647772
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (477 download)

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Book Synopsis Ramayana by :

Download or read book Ramayana written by and published by Flame Tree Collections. This book was released on 2022-02-25 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Ramayana tells the tale of Rama and his beloved Sita, but its narratives and intent, as with all great literature, point to the grand themes of life, death and righteousness. Originally written in ancient Sanskrit, the elegant, epic work is a key part of the canon of both Hinduism and Buddhism. It continues to inspire art, theatre, poetry and temple architecture, dominating the spiritual landscape of the vast Indian sub-continent and the diaspora throughout the rest of the world. This deluxe new edition revives Ralph T. H. Griffith's evocative verse translation and abridges it for the modern reader – bringing the gripping narrative to the forefront. The Flame Tree Gothic Fantasy, Classic Stories and Epic Tales collections bring together the entire range of myth, folklore and modern short fiction. Highlighting the roots of suspense, supernatural, science fiction and mystery stories, the books in Flame Tree Collections series are beautifully presented, perfect as a gift and offer a lifetime of reading pleasure.

Classical Sanskrit Tragedy

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Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 0755617878
Total Pages : 225 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (556 download)

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Book Synopsis Classical Sanskrit Tragedy by : Bihani Sarkar

Download or read book Classical Sanskrit Tragedy written by Bihani Sarkar and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-01-28 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is often assumed that classical Sanskrit poetry and drama lack a concern with the tragic. However, as Bihani Sarkar makes clear in this book, this is far from the case. In the first study of tragedy in classical Sanskrit literature, Sarkar draws on a wide range of Sanskrit dramas, poems and treatises – much of them translated for the first time into English – to provide a complete history of the tragic in Indian literature from the second to the fourth centuries. Looking at Kalidasa, the most celebrated writer of Sanskrit poetry and drama (kavya), this book argues that constructions of absence and grief are central to Kalidasa's compositions and that these 'tragic middles' are much more sophisticated than previously understood. For Kalidasa, tragic middles are modes of thinking, in which he confronts theological and philosophical issues. Through a close literary analysis of the tragic middle in five of his works, the Abhijñanasakuntala, the Raghuva?sa, the Kumarasambhava, the Vikramorvasiya and the Meghaduta, Sarkar demonstrates the importance of tragedy for classical Indian poetry and drama in the early centuries of the common era. These depictions from the Indian literary sphere, by their particular function and interest in the phenomenology of grief, challenge and reshape in a wholly new way our received understanding of tragedy.

The Hindus

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Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 9781594202056
Total Pages : 808 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (2 download)

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Book Synopsis The Hindus by : Wendy Doniger

Download or read book The Hindus written by Wendy Doniger and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2009 with total page 808 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An engrossing and definitive narrative account of history and myth that offers a new way of understanding one of the world's oldest major religions, The Hindus elucidates the relationship between recorded history and imaginary worlds. The Hindus brings a fascinating multiplicity of actors and stories to the stage to show how brilliant and creative thinkers have kept Hinduism alive in ways that other scholars have not fully explored. In this unique and authoritative account, debates about Hindu traditions become platforms to consider history as a whole.

Bonding with the Lord

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Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 9389611903
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (896 download)

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Book Synopsis Bonding with the Lord by :

Download or read book Bonding with the Lord written by and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-12-30 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Few other Hindu gods guide a regional consciousness, pervade walks of everyday life and define a collective psyche the way Lord Jagannath does in Odisha and its contiguous areas. Jagannath is metonymic of Odisha and the Odia way of life, arguably much more than any other god for a particular geography or its peoples. While not derecognising the historical and the spiritual aspects of Jagannath, Bonding with the Lord attempts to look at the deployment of Jagannath in contemporary cultural practices involving the sensorium in the widest sense. The project of a cultural Jagannath not only materialises him in people's everyday practices but also democratises scholarship on him. The expansion of the scope of research on Jagannath to cultural expressions in a more encompassing way rather than confining to 'elitist' religious/literary sources makes him an everyday presence and significantly enhances his sphere of influence. Jagannath's 'tribal' origin, his association with Buddhism and Jainism and his avatari status make him an all-encompassing, multilayered symbol and a treasure trove for multiple interpretations.

Heroic Hindu Resistance to Muslim Invaders, 636 AD to 1206 AD

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Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 76 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Heroic Hindu Resistance to Muslim Invaders, 636 AD to 1206 AD by : Sita Ram Goel

Download or read book Heroic Hindu Resistance to Muslim Invaders, 636 AD to 1206 AD written by Sita Ram Goel and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An analysis of Ram Gopal Misra's Indian resistance to early Muslim invaders, up to 1206 A.D.