HT Picks; New Reads
On the reading list this week is a collection of Sanskrit love poetry, a book on the India Museum that contributed in major ways to the representation of India for a European audience, and an introduction to the major writers from Australia
An ancient guide for modern lovers
Sanskrit has too often been regarded as the sacred language of the gods, yet it is love that has been the overwhelming obsession of Sanskrit writers for over 3,000 years. How to Love in Sanskrit is an invitation to Sanskrit love poetry, bringing together verses and short prose pieces by celebrated writers like Kalidasa and Banabhatta, Buddhist and Jain monks, scholars, emperors, and even some modern-day poets. How do you brew a love potion? Turn someone crimson with a compliment? How do you make love? How do you quarrel and make up? Nurse a broken heart? And how do you let go? There’s something for everyone in this brilliantly translated ancient guide to love for modern readers.*
The East India Company’s collections
The museum of the East India Company formed, for a large part of the nineteenth century, one of the sights of London. In recent years, little has been remembered of it beyond its mere existence, while an assumed negative role has been widely attributed to it on the basis of its position at the heart of one of Britain’s arch-colonialist enterprises.
Extensively illustrated, The India Museum Revisited provides a full examination of the museum’s founding manifesto and evolving ambitions. It surveys the contents of its multifaceted collections – with respect to materials, their manufacture and original functions on the Indian subcontinent – as well as the collectors who gathered them and the manner in which they were mobilized to various ends within the museum.
From this integrated treatment of documentary and material sources, a more accurate, rounded and nuanced picture emerges of an institution that contributed in major ways, over a period of 80 years, to the representation of India for a European audience, not only in Britain but through the museum’s involvement in the international exposition movement to audiences on the continent and beyond.*
The creative spirit of Oz
A Short History of Australian Literature fills a gap in study materials for Indian readers interested in a country that shares a lot of colonial history, many sporting ties, and increasing diasporic connections. Australia is, however, a unique land that has developed its own idioms, cultural mix, and literature. This book introduces the major writers across two centuries, places them in historical contexts of political and social change, and provides a glossary of local usages and a list of reference materials. It blends comprehensive coverage with selective attention to works so readers can “get the feel” of a nation’s creative spirit. A Short History of Australian Literature will be an indispensable companion to anyone interested in Australian studies.*
*All copy from book flap.
