I found Indian culture by way of studying Sanskrit. I was homeless, I spent too much time in libraries, and I needed a hobby. So I put my nose into the "Teach Yourself" series and after learning enough to be dangerous, I dug into volumes of the Vedas, Panchatantra, and Panini. After some brief contact with ISKCON I reaffirmed my Catholic faith, but my fascination and respect for Hinduism and Indian history hasn't waned. I simply built on that by studying the St. Thomas Christians, the history of Goa and the Malabar Coast, and all the factions of "Malankara Church".
I have found a basic Sanskrit vocabulary to be useful, in terms of knowing what people's names or titles mean, or understanding what Buddhists are talking about. And it was even striking to me when identifying similarities with other Indo-European languages. And for me, India has a unique mix of exotic foreign-ness and British-Empire familiarity that I am inexorably attracted to it.
This is an important book. Being colonised and oppressed by the British can lead to the literal rewriting of history and the forgetting of a nation's past. So, kudos... I mean, namaste, to historians who put together research like this!
The Goan Christian experience under the Portuguese is not free from the horror that is typical to stories about colonialism. In any case you are a true scholar. Most people don’t accomplish this much even when they have resources at hand.
ISKCON is a wierd cult. It has a completely different interpretation of hindu texts, has completely different customs and principles and feels like a completely different religion to me as a hindu. Not sure why ISKCON caught on in the west so much!
It's just my anecdotal experience. Hinduism is a decentralized and diverse religion so my Hinduism might be different from my neighbour's Hinduism. The temples we pray in, the festivals we celebrate etc. are all different. My observation of ISKCON is that they are very conservative and sexist in their beliefs and more North Indian in their customs compared to other hindu organizations like the Rama Krishna Math for example. As a South Indian when I go to an ISCKON I feel like I'm in a building of a different religion. I personally feel that the ISCKON's interpretation of the Gita is kinda casteist and sexist and feels like "upholding the status quo".
Note : this is anecdotal and my opinion and I will try to get some snippets on iskcons interpretations of the Gita if I find it.
South Indian dynasties are often overlooked and under appreciated. The Vakataks who built the Ajanta caves, the Satvahan and Kakatiya whose innovations in water management are still in use today. Then there were the maverick Deccan sultanates, Vijayanagar and the mythical Pallavas and many more like Cheras Hoysala etc add to the colourful history of this region.
As the author is from Andhra is there any bias towards coramandel kingdoms as compared to the Malabar kingdoms in this book? (i.e covering a lot of kakatiya and vijayanagara as compared to say the rashtrakuta or maratha)
I have found a basic Sanskrit vocabulary to be useful, in terms of knowing what people's names or titles mean, or understanding what Buddhists are talking about. And it was even striking to me when identifying similarities with other Indo-European languages. And for me, India has a unique mix of exotic foreign-ness and British-Empire familiarity that I am inexorably attracted to it.
This is an important book. Being colonised and oppressed by the British can lead to the literal rewriting of history and the forgetting of a nation's past. So, kudos... I mean, namaste, to historians who put together research like this!