Primus Books

26/08/2026

Navigating Disability in an Ableist World examines the discourse surrounding disability through both historical sources and contemporary scholarship. Bringing together the perspectives of scholars and activists, this collection explores disability in relation to structures of ableism across different social and historical contexts. The volume engages with sources ranging from popular tales such as the Jatakas, the Buddha’s birth story, to colonial perspectives on disability, highlighting its place within Indian history. Also exploring representations of ableism in Bollywood movies and literature, the essays reflect shifts in societal attitudes toward people with disabilities. This includes portrayals of both disabled characters and more recent challenges to ableist perspectives in Hindi literature. The book emphasizes lived experiences, particularly regarding intimacy and the struggles faced by families of persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). It also discusses how intersection of mental health, q***r identities, and gendered experiences of disability makes ableism more complex. Broadly, the collection invites readers to reconsider the boundaries between ‘disabled’ and ‘able-bodied’ identities, while critically examining the social assumptions that sustain these distinctions.

The Editors:

Shatarupa Bhattacharya is Assistant Professor of History at Lady Shri Ram College for Women. She earned her PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru University, where her doctoral research examined historical sources from early India through the lens of gender. Her work focuses on analysing epigraphs and texts using gender as a methodological tool, with broader interests in social history. She is currently researching ideas and representations of disability in early India.

Megha Dhillon is Assistant Professor of Psychology at Lady Shri Ram College for Women. In addition to teaching, she conducts research in areas such as health psychology, body image, and disability, particularly focusing on women’s lived experiences. Her work explores how psychological insights can contribute to improving the well-being of individuals and communities in India. She has also volunteered with non-profit organizations dedicated to supporting economically disadvantaged youth.

To procure a copy please click on the link below:

https://primusbooks.com/sociology/navigating-disability-in-an-ableist-world-intersections-and-insights-edited-by-shatarupa-bhattacharya-and-megha-dhillon/ #1516344244526-9f9b38e7-b5ac

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26/08/2026

From religious diagrams of the universe to a children's classic, cultural historian Jacob Schmidt-Madsen traces the journey of Gyan Chaupar and the making of modern Snakes and Ladders.

Read the full interview here:
https://indianexpress.com/article/research/snakes-and-ladders-began-as-a-spiritual-game-in-india-how-the-british-transformed-it-10849982/

'The Game of Knowledge: Playing at Spiritual Liberation in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Western India' by Jacob Schmidt-Madsen, is now available at www.primusbooks.com and www.amazon.in

Happy Reading!!

Primus Books is glad to announce its new title, "The Game of Knowledge: Playing at Spiritual Liberation in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Western India" by Jacob Schmidt-Madsen.

Snakes and Ladders is one of the most successful board games ever marketed. It was introduced by British game manufacturers in the late nineteenth century, but its history can be traced back to the religious Vaishnava and Jaina communities in eighteenth-century Western India. It was known there as the ‘Game of Knowledge’ and variously used for entertainment, education, divination, and self-exploration. The board was a map of the universe, the pawns were the souls traveling through it, the dice the karma controlling them, and the snakes and ladders the ups and downs on their journey toward spiritual liberation.

The Game of Knowledge: Playing at Spiritual Liberation in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Western India tells the fascinating story of board games from its origin in mystical charts of the astral body to its modern adaptation as an abstract children’s game. The story is told through beautifully handcrafted gameboards and little-known texts and manuscripts. The facts are presented with scholarly rigour yet easily grasped by the attentive reader.

The author, Jacob Schmidt-Madsen is a historian of board games specializing in traditional South Asian games. Currently based at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, his research explores how formal game systems are invested with meaning and used for purposes of ritual, divination, education, and other playful yet serious practices. He employs a wide range of textual, visual, material, and ethnographic sources collected from private and public archives and during fieldwork.

To procure a copy of this fascinating work, please click on the link below:

https://primusbooks.com/ancient/the-game-of-knowledge-playing-at-spiritual-liberation-in-eighteenth-and-nineteenth-century-western-india-by-jacob-schmidt-madsen/ #1516344244526-9f9b38e7-b5ac

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22/08/2026

18/08/2026

We are pleased to present the Primus Books Spring 2026 Catalogue, featuring a selection of our latest publications across the humanities and social sciences.

From history, anthropology and political science to literature, cultural studies and other emerging areas of research, our new titles engage with diverse questions and contemporary scholarship in South Asian studies and beyond.

Our publications are intended for researchers, academics, students, universities and libraries, and may serve as valuable resources for ongoing research projects, departmental collections and institutional programmes, including UGC- and DRS-supported initiatives.

📖 Explore the Spring 2026 Catalogue:https://primusbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Primus-Spring-2026-Final.pdf

🌐 Browse all Primus Books publications: www.primusbooks.com

Discover new scholarship. Build stronger academic collections. Read with Primus.

17/08/2026

Official YouTube channel for SND Live Events This channel will feature all Morari Bapu related content, from Ram Katha evening programmes to cultural/literary events presented or attended by Bapu. We will also include important announcements/updates. Morari Bapu is a world-renowned exponent of the R...

17/08/2026

"India–Arab Relations: From Historical Context to Contemporary Dynamics" traces the deep linkages that exist between the Arab world and the Indian subcontinent, historically as well as culturally, examining the process of their transformation in the modern era. Trade and intellectual exchanges have always taken centre stage between the regions, slowly developing into a contemporary strategic partnership shaped by energy, security, migration, diaspora, and diplomacy. The present volume highlights the continuities and shifts in their relations across centuries, through various incidents that have shaped their current status. By locating India’s recent ‘Look West’ and ‘Go West’ policies within broader regional dynamics, the volume offers valuable insights on international relations, West Asia studies, and India’s foreign policy.

The editor, Nasir Raza Khan is Professor at the India–Arab Cultural Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. His research interests lie in the history of Islam, Central Asian studies, India–Arab relations, and international studies. His recent publications include Art and Architectural Traditions of India and Iran: Commonality and Diversity (2022); Sufism in India and Central Asia (2023); and Islam in India: History, Politics, and Society (2024).

To procure a copy, please click on the link mentioned below:

https://primusbooks.com/political-science-ir/india-arab-relations-from-historical-context-to-contemporary-relations-edited-by-nasir-raza-khan/ #1516344244526-9f9b38e7-b5ac

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17/08/2026

Kashmir has long been imagined as a space where geography, nature, metaphysics, memory, and cultural co-existence intersect in unique ways. Over several millennia, Kashmir emerged as an influential centre of learning, producing some of South Asia’s most enduring philosophical systems, mystical movements, historical chronicles, and composite cultural expressions. The convergence of Kashmiri Shaivism, its early and sophisticated history-writing tradition, and the lived ethos of Kashmiriyat, the Valley’s mystic temper, created a civilizational tapestry remarkable in depth and diversity.

Our new publication, 'Hues of Kashmir' is an engagement with a multi-layered universe that traces four foundational strands—Shaivism, history-writing, Kashmiriyat, and mysticism—as interconnected components of Kashmir’s intellectual and cultural heritage. While each domain can be studied independently, examining them together reveals how Kashmir’s philosophical depth, historical memory, humanistic ethos, and spiritual fluidity shaped one another across centuries. The aim is not to romanticize Kashmir as a timeless utopia but to understand how real historical processes created patterns of co-existence, conflict, exchange, and creativity that remain central to the region’s identity even today.

The author, Rattan Lal Hangloo is presently Chief Representative and Honorary Chancellor, Nobel International University, Toronto, Canada. He was formerly Vice-Chancellor, University of Kalyani, West Bengal; Vice-Chancellor, University of Allahabad; and Professor and Head, Department of History, Hyderabad Central University. He has published numerous papers in national and international journals. His publications include The State in Medieval Kashmir (2000); Kashmir: Before the Accession and After (2021); Enquiries in Medieval India: Religion, Society, Culture and Polity (2022); and Agrarian System of Kashmir in Dogra Reign (1846–1900) (2025) as well as edited volumes such as Situating the Medieval Indian State (1995); Approaching Islam (2005); New Themes in Indian History: Politics Gender, Environment and Culture (2007); History of Science and Technology in India: Exploring New Themes (2011); and Indian Diaspora in the Caribbean (2012).

To procure a copy, please click on the link below: https://primusbooks.com/modern-history/hues-of-kashmir-perspectives-on-cultural-history-by-rattan-lal-hangloo/ #1516344244526-9f9b38e7-b5ac

Happy Reading!!

17/08/2026

The book is now available on Amazon India. The link is mentioned below:

https://www.amazon.in/Primus-Books-Liberation-Eighteenth-Nineteenth-Century/dp/9309616199/ref=sr_1_3?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Tu0Uy_o2FWCk_s2hlHdXKUBpCjIjjJ8z-PkhWtaFHyE.GwvZRYeOw1C-NuAe-3atMptc9RmoPxXRTUTTQitKwrM&dib_tag=se&qid=1786956035&refinements=p_27%3AJacob+Schmidt-Madsen&s=books&sr=1-3

Happy Reading!!

Primus Books is glad to announce its new title, "The Game of Knowledge: Playing at Spiritual Liberation in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Western India" by Jacob Schmidt-Madsen.

Snakes and Ladders is one of the most successful board games ever marketed. It was introduced by British game manufacturers in the late nineteenth century, but its history can be traced back to the religious Vaishnava and Jaina communities in eighteenth-century Western India. It was known there as the ‘Game of Knowledge’ and variously used for entertainment, education, divination, and self-exploration. The board was a map of the universe, the pawns were the souls traveling through it, the dice the karma controlling them, and the snakes and ladders the ups and downs on their journey toward spiritual liberation.

The Game of Knowledge: Playing at Spiritual Liberation in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Western India tells the fascinating story of board games from its origin in mystical charts of the astral body to its modern adaptation as an abstract children’s game. The story is told through beautifully handcrafted gameboards and little-known texts and manuscripts. The facts are presented with scholarly rigour yet easily grasped by the attentive reader.

The author, Jacob Schmidt-Madsen is a historian of board games specializing in traditional South Asian games. Currently based at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, his research explores how formal game systems are invested with meaning and used for purposes of ritual, divination, education, and other playful yet serious practices. He employs a wide range of textual, visual, material, and ethnographic sources collected from private and public archives and during fieldwork.

To procure a copy of this fascinating work, please click on the link below:

https://primusbooks.com/ancient/the-game-of-knowledge-playing-at-spiritual-liberation-in-eighteenth-and-nineteenth-century-western-india-by-jacob-schmidt-madsen/ #1516344244526-9f9b38e7-b5ac

Happy Reading!!

14/08/2026

Partition was not merely a moment in 1947 when borders were drawn and two new nations emerged. It was a prolonged process that transformed lives, identities, communities, citizenship and shaped civilizational memories across South Asia.

On Partition Day, we invite readers to revisit this complex history through three significant publications from Primus Books.

Revisiting Partition: Contestation, Narratives and Memories, edited by Anindita Ghoshal, brings together diverse perspectives from West Bengal, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Northeast India, examining the continuing impact of Partition through regional histories, refugee experiences, everyday lives and competing memories.

Boundaries and Belonging: Rehabilitating Refugees in India, 1947–1971 by Pallavi Chakravarty examines the Indian state's policies towards refugees from East and West Pakistan, with particular attention to Delhi and Kolkata. It explores rehabilitation not simply as an administrative programme, but as a process deeply connected with citizenship, belonging and the making of the postcolonial nation-state.

Freedom and Partition: Momentous Events of 14–17 August 1947 in India and Pakistan by Tan Tai Yong and Gyanesh Kudaisya reconstructs four decisive days through archival records, newspapers, oral histories and private papers, placing official ceremonies alongside the experiences and anxieties of ordinary people as independence and Partition unfolded.

Together, these books encourage us to look beyond the familiar narratives of Independence and Partition—to ask how borders were experienced, how displaced communities rebuilt their lives, how citizenship was negotiated, and how the memories of 1947 continue to shape South Asia.

This Partition Day, read, remember and reflect.

Explore the books:

https://primusbooks.com/revisiting-partition-contestation-narratives-and-memory-by-anindita-ghoshal/

https://primusbooks.com/modern-history/boundaries-and-belonging-rehabilitating-refugees-in-india-1947-1971-by-pallavi-chakravarty/

https://primusbooks.com/modern-history/freedom-and-partition-momentous-events-of-14-17-august-in-india-and-pakistan-by-tan-tai-yong-and-gyanesh-kudaisya/

14/08/2026

We are delighted to share that our author Professor Rupert Snell will speak on “The Poetic Mastery of Tulsi’s Ramcaritmanas” at the Laxmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute, Harvard University, on 17 August 2026 at 6:00 p.m. Boston Time.

For audiences in India, the session will be at 3:30 a.m. IST on 18 August 2026.

In terms of broadcasting, it will be on Aastha satellite channel, with mornings being on
https://www.youtube.com/
and the evening sessions on
https://www.youtube.com/

Do tune in for what promises to be a deeply insightful discussion on Tulsi’s Ramcaritmanas, its poetic brilliance, and its enduring literary and cultural significance.

Official YouTube channel for SND Live Events This channel will feature all Morari Bapu related content, from Ram Katha evening programmes to cultural/literary events presented or attended by Bapu. We will also include important announcements/updates. Morari Bapu is a world-renowned exponent of the R...