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JUST PUBLISHEDMachiavelli on Warby Christopher LynchABOUT THE BOOKMachiavelli on War offers a comprehensive interpretati...
03/12/2025

JUST PUBLISHED

Machiavelli on War

by Christopher Lynch

ABOUT THE BOOK

Machiavelli on War offers a comprehensive interpretation of the philosopher-historian’s treatment of war throughout his writings, from poems and memoranda drafted while he was Florence’s top official for military matters to his posthumous works, The Prince and Discourses on Livy.

Christopher Lynch argues that the issue of war permeates the form and content of each of Machiavelli’s works, the substance of his thoughts, and his own activity as a writer, concluding that he was the first great modern philosopher because he was the first modern philosopher of war.

Lynch details Machiavelli’s understanding of warfare in terms of both actual armed conflict and at the intellectual level of thinkers competing on the field of knowledge and belief. Throughout Machiavelli’s works, he focuses on how military commanders’ knowledge of human necessities, beginning with their own, enables and requires them to mold soldiers, organizationally and politically, to best deploy them in operations attuned to political context and changing circumstances. Intellectually, leaders must shape minds, their own and others’, to reject beliefs that would weaken their purpose; for Machiavelli, this meant overcoming the classical and Christian traditions in favor of a new teaching of human freedom and excellence.

As Machiavelli on War makes clear, prevailing both on the battlefield and in the war of ideas demands a single-minded engagement in “reasoning about everything,” beginning with oneself. For Machiavelli, Lynch shows, the successful military commander is not just an excellent leader but also an excellent human being in constant pursuit of the truth about themselves and the world.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Christopher Lynch is Professor of Political Science at Missouri State University and head of the Department of Political Science. He has served as a senior adviser at the US State Department. He is the editor and translator of Art of War by Niccolò Machiavelli and the coeditor of Principle and Prudence in Western Political Thought.

REVIEWS

“In this outstanding book, which will become a landmark in the field of Machiavelli scholarship, Christopher Lynch offers valuable and illuminating readings of the Prince, the Discourses, and less well-known works to make an indisputable case that war and international affairs are central to Machiavelli’s understanding of the human.”
—Carnes Lord, author of The Modern Prince

“By putting war at the center of Machiavelli’s thought and taking seriously his claim that war is man’s natural condition, this eye-opening book makes sense of Machiavelli’s political writings and his radicalism. Christopher Lynch persuasively demonstrates that Machiavelli’s treatment of war demands the thought-provoking philosophical exploration it receives in these pages.”
—Paul Rahe, author of The Grand Strategy of Classical Sparta

“This up-to-date, comprehensive, and wide-ranging exploration of the problem of war in Machiavelli is going to be a reference work in the field. Christopher Lynch’s critical engagement with existing scholarship as well as his profound knowledge of Machiavelli’s writings lead him to offer new perspectives on central issues such as civic commitment and the function of military commanders in political communities.”
—Andrea Guidi, author of Books, People, and Military Thought

SPECIFICATIONS

ISBN: 978-93-95474-39-9
Number of pages: 384
Size: 16 x 24 x 3 cm
Year of publication: 2026
Binding: Hardcover
Weight: 723 grams
Price: ₹ 2795

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JUST PUBLISHEDThe Retrospective Raj: Medicine, Literature and History after Empireby Sam GoodmanABOUT THE BOOKExplores t...
03/12/2025

JUST PUBLISHED

The Retrospective Raj: Medicine, Literature and History after Empire

by Sam Goodman

ABOUT THE BOOK

Explores the 20th century literary revival of Empire and the post-imperial novel through a critical medical humanities lens.

• Offers new insights into an established genre of twentieth-century literature through the application of a critical medical humanities lens.
• Adds to scholarly understanding of the perceived legacy of Empire in culture and society of the twentieth century through comparative analysis of a selection of well-known Booker Prize winning novelists.
• Offers a balance of close reading of key novels in addition to critical approaches to history, historiography and context to explore the representation of Britishness and identity after Empire.
• Explores the relationship between illness, nationhood, and culture/history, so of acute contextual relevance.

The Retrospective Raj: Medicine, Literature & History after Empire undertakes a detailed analysis of the use of medicine as a recurrent and defining trope of post-imperial fiction published between 1950 and 1990. The book argues that during this crucial period of recent history, when the influence and prestige of the British Empire was nearing its end, a range of contemporary novelists including J. G. Farrell, Paul Scott, John Masters, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, and Salman Rushdie identified and used medicine as a discursive paradigm through which to engage critically with the history, authority and legacy of the British Empire within their writing. Drawing on a range of literary and archival sources, this work explores the complex relationship between Britain, India and Empire through a medical lens, bringing together the concerns of literary study and medical history under an interdisciplinary and original methodological framework.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sam Goodman is Principal Academic in English & Communication at Bournemouth University, UK. His research interests focus on formations of identity in relation to literature and the medical humanities, particularly around Britishness, and the history and legacy of the British Empire. He is the author of British Spy Fiction & the End of Empire (Routledge, 2016), and editor of Medicine, Health & the Arts: Approaches to Medical Humanities (Routledge, 2014).

REVIEW

“This absorbing study of post-war Anglo-Indian historical fiction examines the representation of medicine in its material aspects and metaphorical meanings in a detailed, perceptive reading of a select number of significant novels that implicitly articulate Britain’s post-imperial condition. Goodman’s timely book is an intelligent contribution to scholarship on post-war fiction, imperial nostalgia and the medical humanities.”
—Mariadele Boccardi, University of the West of England

SPECIFICATIONS

ISBN: 978-93-95474-15-3
Number of pages: 248
Size: 16 x 24 x 2 cm
Year of publication: 2026
Binding: Hardcover
Weight: 526 grams
Price: ₹ 1795

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JUST PUBLISHEDMyth and History in Ancient Persia: The Achaemenids in the Iranian Traditionby Reza Shaghaghi ZarghameeABO...
03/12/2025

JUST PUBLISHED

Myth and History in Ancient Persia: The Achaemenids in the Iranian Tradition

by Reza Shaghaghi Zarghamee

ABOUT THE BOOK

Traces ancient Iranian mythical-legendary traditions within classical sources on Median and Persian royalty.

• Combines leading research in different interdisciplinary areas, including classics, Iranology, oral traditions, comparative mythology, and religious studies (focusing on Zoroastrianism, Mithraism, and other Old Iranian religions).
• Expands on previous scholarship and utilizes overlooked Iranian evidence.
• Provocatively rereads the accounts of key events in Median and Achaemenid history, including passages that are of tremendous interest outside the field of Iranian studies.
• Overturns longstanding perceptions regarding the methods and overall reliability of classical authors.
• Presents findings that may serve as a foundation to future narrative works on Achaemenid history, as well as to the concept of cultural production in the Achaemenid period.

This book fills an important gap in Achaemenid studies by using traditional Iranian narratives, such as those found in the famous Shahnameh, or ‘Book of Kings’, of Ferdowsi, to analyse the Greco-Roman accounts of Median and Persian royalty. The study shows that the classical authors derived their accounts from Iranian traditions, grounded in age-old myths and legends. This analysis serves many purposes. It refines the extent to which the classical sources may be used in historical reconstructions and sheds new light on the literary methods of authors, such as Herodotus, Ctesias, and Xenophon. Finally, the book offers insights into one of the thorniest enigmas in Iranian historiography, the apparent disappearance of Illustrious rulers like Cyrus II, Darius I, and Xerxes I from native historical traditions. Standing at the crossroads of Iranian studies and Classics, this book is an indispensable source for scholars of ancient Iran, Greek historiography, and the Shahnameh.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr Reza Shaghaghi Zarghamee is a Post-doctoral Fellow in Ancient History at the University of St. Andrews, where he received his PhD from the School of Classics in 2022. His area of specialisation is the history of pre-Islamic and, more specifically, Achaemenid Iran. He is the author of Discovering Cyrus: The Persian Conqueror Astride the Ancient World (Mage: 2013), a biographical account of Cyrus the Great, and various shorter publications on ancient Iranian history and myth, as well as Greek accounts of ancient Persia. In addition to his work as a historian, Mr Zarghamee is a practising attorney.

REVIEW

“This book by Reza Zarghamee, Myth and History in Ancient Persia, is yet another radiant entry in Edinburgh Studies in Ancient Persia. What is particularly admirable about the book is its almost uncanny precision and clarity in dealing with the complex diversity of primary sources centering on the self-presentation of the imperial civilization of ancient Medes and Persians.”
—Olga M. Davidson, Boston University

SPECIFICATIONS

ISBN: 978-93-95474-62-7
Number of pages: 376 with 22 black & white illustrations
Size: 16 x 24 x 3 cm
Year of publication: 2026
Binding: Hardcover
Weight: 710 grams
Price: ₹ 2595

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JUST PUBLISHEDSufism and Power in the Ottoman Empire: The Writings of Ismail Hakki Bursevi (1653–1725)by Kameliya N. Ata...
03/12/2025

JUST PUBLISHED

Sufism and Power in the Ottoman Empire: The Writings of Ismail Hakki Bursevi (1653–1725)

by Kameliya N. Atanasova

ABOUT THE BOOK

Delves into the writings of a prolific mystic to argue that Ottoman Sufism was political.

• Introduces one of the most prolific Ottoman authors of all time to Western audiences.
• Highlights the important connections between Sufism (Islamic mysticism) and political power.
• Sheds light on the contested nature of religious authority in the early-modern Ottoman state.
• Examines previously unpublished and untranslated Arabic and Ottoman Turkish manuscripts.
• Uses methods and theories from the fields of Religious Studies, Ottoman History, and Islamic Studies.

This book contributes to the growing scholarship on the political dimensions of Ottoman Sufi thought and practice by examining the intersections of self-representation and religious authority in the writings of Ismail Hakki Bursevi (1653–1725), a prolific Sufi master, well-known Qur’an exegete, and advisor to Ottoman officials. The book highlights the political aspirations of this prominent early-modern Sufi through a focus on Bursevi’s self-portraits as one of the most important religious figures of his age. By paying attention to the individual, communal, and institutional aspects of his authority construction, the book sheds light on how intellectuals like Bursevi navigated an increasingly competitive market of religious ideas in the Ottoman late seventeenth and early eighteenth century. More broadly, Sufism and Power in the Ottoman Empire challenges the notion that Sufi authority is necessarily charismatic and argues that the social context in which Bursevi lived points to alternative theorizations of religious authority as a discourse.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kameliya Atanasova is Assistant Professor of Religion and History at Washington & Lee University (Lexington, VA). She holds a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. She has conducted archival research in the US, Germany, and Turkey which has been sponsored by the Mellon Foundation, DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) and The Manuscript Society.

REVIEW

“Despite his prolific nature as a writer and over-representation in the Ottoman archival and library registers, Bursevi is poorly understood and his relevance to Ottoman and Islamic history has not been properly situated. This book goes a long way toward rectifying that imbalance. It is a critical addition to the scholarly literature on Sufism and the history of the Ottoman Empire, and an advance that has benefited my own work on the topic.”
— John Curry, University of Nevada

SPECIFICATIONS

ISBN: 978-93-95474-64-1
Number of pages: 192 with 10 illustrations (6 colour figures, 3 black & white tables, 1 black & white map)
Size: 16 x 24 x 2 cm
Year of publication: 2026
Binding: Hardcover
Weight: 445 grams
Price: ₹ 1495

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JUST PUBLISHEDMigrant Epistemologies in Indian Nonfiction of the Long Twentieth Centuryby Manisha BasuABOUT THE BOOKShow...
03/12/2025

JUST PUBLISHED

Migrant Epistemologies in Indian Nonfiction of the Long Twentieth Century

by Manisha Basu

ABOUT THE BOOK

Showcases how a range of migrant experiences are crucial to increasing interdependencies between differentially empowered groups across the world.

• Theorizes the contact between distinct epistemologies during the migrant experience as crucial for a politics of living in relation to others.
• Animates the figure of the nonfiction writer as a public intellectual with an interest in the viability of different worldviews.
• Generates a conversation between the new Global South Studies and an older vein of critical humanism from both India and the West.
• Traces the interest of contemporary nonfiction in the kinds of stories that emerge in the histories-from-below rubric of Subaltern Studies.
• Connects the figure of the migrant to the important task of rendering durable endangered ways of knowing through an epistemologies-from-below approach.

Attending to non-fiction texts from India and the Global South, Migrant Epistemologies identifies migratory contact zones as sites on which contrary epistemic stances may co-exist, despite their differences, in a symbiotic ecology. Given the increasing traffic between differentially empowered groups around the world, their distinct cognitive practices must often meet one another head-on. Manisha Basu argues that in the best of such circumstances, migrants and hosts open themselves to unlearning their own dominant worldviews and animating other ways of knowing. Unlike accounts of migration that accentuate the violences involved in the movements of peoples, this book foregrounds relatively peaceable, but still complex, migratory encounters that imagine an epistemologically diverse world resulting in social and environmental justice.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Manisha Basu is Associate Professor in the English Department at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She is co-editor along with Anastasia Ulanowicz of The Aesthetics and Politics of Global Hunger (2019) and author of The Rhetoric of Hindu India (2016). Basu has also co-edited a special issue of Assay: A Journal of Nonfiction Studies (Reimagining Regimes of Reality, Spring 2020). In addition, her essays have appeared in journals like Boundary 2, Comparative Literature, Ariel, The Comparatist, Victoriographies and Theory and Event. Her continuing research and teaching interests are in Postcolonial Studies, South Asian and African Literatures and Cultures, Critical Theory, Migration Studies and Decoloniality, and Epistemological and Environmental Justices.

REVIEW

“Migrant Epistemologies combines migrant studies, philosophy, ecocriticism, and postcolonial theory to illuminate the role of nonfiction writing in enabling self-cultivation, representing collectivities, and imagining just futures. Through detailed readings of a range of texts by authors from India and beyond, the book offers new perspectives on border-crossing and the possibility of human interconnectedness in the twentieth century.”
—Ulka Anjaria, Brandeis University

SPECIFICATIONS

ISBN: 978-93-95474-46-7
Number of pages: 232
Size: 16 x 24 x 2 cm
Year of publication: 2026
Binding: Hardcover
Weight: 501 grams
Price: ₹ 1695

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JUST PUBLISHEDBehind Kṛṣṇa’s Smile: The Lord’s Hint of Laughter in the Bhagavadgītā and Beyondby Antonio Rigopoulos and ...
27/11/2025

JUST PUBLISHED

Behind Kṛṣṇa’s Smile: The Lord’s Hint of Laughter in the Bhagavadgītā and Beyond

by Antonio Rigopoulos and Gianni Pellegrini

ABOUT THE BOOK

Examines Kṛṣṇa’s hint of laughter (prahasann iva) in the Bhagavadgītā, its interpretations in the Vedānta commentarial tradition, and its significance in Kṛṣṇaite iconography and literature.

Behind Kṛṣṇa’s Smile offers a wholly original perspective on the celebrated Bhagavadgītā, or “Song of God.” The book investigates Kṛṣṇa’s hint of laughter (prahasann iva) in Bhagavadgītā 2.10, which is generally understood to be the turning point of the famous poem, signaling the outpouring of his grace and teaching to Arjuna. Remarkably, it is from this verse that Śaṅkara and other leading theologians begin to write their commentaries. In addition to exploring the momentousness of Kṛṣṇa’s hint of laughter and its impact on the poem’s central teachings, Behind Kṛṣṇa’s Smile provides a crucial interpretation of Kṛṣṇa’s prahasann iva in the Vedānta commentarial tradition, from Śaṅkara up to modern times. The book also considers the meanings of the stock phrase prahasann iva in the larger epic framework of the Mahābhārata and Rāmāyaṇa. Moreover, the book offers the first comprehensive review of the significance of Kṛṣṇa’s smile in Kṛṣṇaite iconography and literature, demonstrating that there is a unified canon bringing together the literary and performative dimensions of Kṛṣṇa’s hint of laughter.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Antonio Rigopoulos is Professor of Sanskrit Language and Literature at the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy. His previous books include The Hagiographer and the Avatar: The Life and Works of Narayan Kasturi and Dattātreya: The Immortal Guru, Yogin, and Avatāra.

Gianni Pellegrini is Associate Professor of Sanskrit Language and Literature and Indian Philosophy and Religions at the University of Turin, Italy.

REVIEW

“This book tackles an element of the Bhagavadgītā, namely Kṛṣṇa's smile as he is just about to start his instruction of Arjuna right before the fratricidal war on Kurukṣetra. As the authors note, this is a most interesting detail in the text and its setting—the Mahābhārata—yet one that has been entirely overlooked by scholarship. The authors provide a convincing analysis of the significance of Kṛṣṇa's smile and its poignant function of marking a transition from silence to instruction, as well as a very useful contextualization in the wider currents of South Asian culture and literature.”
—Aleksandar Uskokov, Yale University

SPECIFICATIONS

ISBN: 978-93-95474-69-6
Number of pages: 331 with 22 b/w illustrations
Size: 16 x 24 x 3 cm
Year of publication: 2026
Binding: Hardcover
Weight: 592 grams
Price: ₹ 2595

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JUST PUBLISHEDThe Ethnography of Ta**ra: Textures and Contexts of Living Ta***ic Traditionsby Carola E. Lorea and Rohit ...
27/11/2025

JUST PUBLISHED

The Ethnography of Ta**ra: Textures and Contexts of Living Ta***ic Traditions

by Carola E. Lorea and Rohit Singh (editors)

ABOUT THE BOOK

Presents Ta**ra from an ethnographic vantage point, through a series of case studies grounded in diverse settings across contemporary Asia.

This is the first collection of essays to approach the topic of Ta***ic Studies from the vantage point of ethnography and lived religion, moving beyond the centrality of written texts and giving voice to the everyday life and livelihoods of a multitude of Ta***ic actors. Bringing together a team of international scholars whose contributions range across diverse communities and traditions in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Himalayan region, the book connects distant shores of Ta***ic scholarship and lived Ta***ic practices. The contributors unpack Ta**ra’s relationship to the body, ritual performance, sexuality, secrecy, power hierarchies, death, magic, and healing, while doing so with vigilant sensitivity to decolonization and the ethics of fieldwork. Through diverse ethnographies of Ta**ra and attention to lived experiences and life stories, the book challenges normative definitions of Ta**ra and maps the variety of Ta***ic traditions, providing comparative perspectives on Ta***ic societies across regions and religious backgrounds. The accessible tone of the ethnographic case studies makes this an ideal book for undergraduate or graduate audiences working on the topic of Ta**ra.

ABOUT THE EDITORS

Carola E. Lorea is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Faculty of Humanities at the University of Tübingen in Germany. She is the author of Folklore, Religion, and the Songs of a Bengali Madman: A Journey Between Performance and the Politics of Cultural Representation.

Rohit Singh is Lecturer and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Religious Studies at UNC Greensboro.

REVIEWS

“The Ethnography of Ta**ra is valuable to scholars as a model of different applications of ethnography.”
—Nova Religio

“This is a superb and truly refreshing contribution to the study of Ta**ra and religion more broadly. As the volume makes clear, Ta***ic studies have tended to focus on texts, history, and esoteric practices without contextualizing these in everyday life. By focusing on ethnography, this volume is an excellent intervention to those more abstract, textual, historical, idealized, exotified, and often problematic depictions of Ta**ra.”
—Lisa I. Knight, author of Contradictory Lives: Baul Women in India and Bangladesh

SPECIFICATIONS

ISBN: 978-93-95474-11-5
Number of pages: 380 with 31 b/w illustrations
Size: 16 x 24 x 3 cm
Year of publication: 2026
Binding: Hardcover
Weight: 656 grams
Price: ₹ 2795

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JUST PUBLISHEDWonder in South Asia: Histories, Aesthetics, Ethicsby Tulasi Srinivas (editor)ABOUT THE BOOKA comparative ...
18/11/2025

JUST PUBLISHED

Wonder in South Asia: Histories, Aesthetics, Ethics

by Tulasi Srinivas (editor)

ABOUT THE BOOK

A comparative study of wonder in South Asian religions.

The experience of wonder—encompassing awe, bewilderment, curiosity, excitement, fear, dread, mystery, perplexity, reverence, surprise, and supplication—and the ineffable quality of that which is wondrous have been entwined in religion and human experience. Yet strangely, wonder in non-western societies, including South Asia, has rarely been acknowledged or understood. This groundbreaking volume brings together historians and ethnographers of South Asia, including leading and emerging scholars, to consider the place and meaning of wonder in such varied joyful, tense, and creative sites and moments as Sufi music performances in Gujarat, Tamil graveyard processions, trans women’s charitable practices, Kipling’s Orientalist tales, village Kuchipudi dance performances, and Rajasthani healing shrines. Offering a synthetic and scholarly reading of wonder that speaks to the political, aesthetic, and ethical worlds of South Asia, these essays redefine the nature and meaning of wonder and its worlds. Taken together, they provide an invaluable research tool for those in the fields of Asian religion, religion in context, and South Asian religions in particular.

ABOUT THE EDITOR

Tulasi Srinivas is Professor of Anthropology, Religion, and Transnational Studies at Emerson College. She is the author of The Cow in the Elevator: An Anthropology of Wonder and Winged Faith: Rethinking Religious Pluralism and Globalization through the Satya Sai Movement, and the coeditor, with Krishnendu Ray, of Curried Cultures: Globalization, Food, and South Asia.

REVIEWS

“…an important and welcome contribution to approaching wonder as an analytic for anthropological studies on religion in India, and South Asia more broadly … By foregrounding how wonder is evoked, produced and captured, the book makes it both amenable to, and a tool of, anthropological enquiry. The volume provides us with a fresh perspective to understand contemporary South Asian religiosities as to their creativity, ethics, politics and the possibilities of individual and collective transformations.”
—Contributions to Indian Sociology

“Exploring manifold manifestations and encounters of wonder in various regions and religions of South Asia, this volume refines scholarly engagement with wonder both as a theoretical category that expands our understanding of South Asian religion and as a meaningful, affective constituent of the religious and ethnographic experience. The strength of the collection lies in the breadth of its case studies, which range across the subcontinent, and its depth of application within each of the chapters.”
—Caleb Simmons, author of Singing the Goddess into Place: Locality, Myth, and Social Change in Chamundi of the Hill, a Kannada Folk Ballad

SPECIFICATIONS

ISBN: 978-93-95474-92-4
Number of pages: 366 with 20 b/w illustrations
Size: 16 x 24 x 3 cm
Year of publication: 2026
Binding: Hardcover
Weight: 693 grams
Price: ₹ 2395

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JUST PUBLISHEDThe Literary Life of Yājñavalkyaby Steven E. LindquistABOUT THE BOOKA literary and historical investigatio...
16/11/2025

JUST PUBLISHED

The Literary Life of Yājñavalkya

by Steven E. Lindquist

ABOUT THE BOOK

A literary and historical investigation into an ancient Indian religious thinker, tracing his rise in importance in the Hindu tradition.

In this fascinating study, Steven E. Lindquist investigates the intersections between historical context and literary production in the “life” of Yājñavalkya, the most important ancient Indian literary figure prior to the Buddha. Known for his sharp tongue and deep thought, Yājñavalkya is associated with a number of “firsts” in Indian religious literary history: the first person to discuss brahman and ātman thoroughly; the first to put forth a theory of karma and reincarnation; the first to renounce his household life; and the first to dispute with women in religious debate. Throughout early Indian history, he was seen as a priestly bearer of ritual authority, a sage of mystical knowledge, and an innovative propagator of philosophical ideas and religious law. Drawing on history, literary studies, ritual studies, Sanskrit philology, narrative studies, and philosophy, Lindquist traces Yājñavalkya’s literary life—from his earliest mentions in ritual texts, through his developing biography in the Upaniṣads, and finally to his role as a hoary sage in narrative literature—offering the first detailed monograph on this central figure in early Indian religious and literary history.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Steven E. Lindquist is Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies, Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor, and Director of Asian Studies at Southern Methodist University. He is the editor of Religion and Identity in South Asia: Essays in Honor of Patrick Olivelle.

REVIEWS

“…an exciting new addition to this body of scholarship … [it] will be of great interest to not just students and scholars of Hindu traditions, but students and scholars of Sanskrit literature, students and scholars of mythology, and students and scholars of gender and religion as well.”
—Religious Studies Review

“The Literary Life of Yājñavalkya sets new standards in the examination of religious literary figures in South Asian textual traditions and is an exemplar of how philological and literary analysis should evolve to better accommodate the cultural investments of original literary communities. This study comes as a pertinent and much-needed reminder that even as historical facticity may not be a primary concern of literary characterizations, literary characterizations are indeed a historical fact in themselves.”
—Religions of South Asia

“…a valuable resource for readers of the Upaniṣads, post-Vedic Brahminical mythology, and Sanskrit literature more broadly … this title will no doubt become a benchmark work within Vedic studies, and will additionally inspire with its example a much wider audience of scholars engaging Hindu mythology.”
—Reading Religion

“Lindquist traces the textual references to Yājñavalkya from their pre-Buddhist beginnings to their classical and postclassical contexts, all while avoiding the pitfalls of mostly pointless inquiries into the 'historicity' of Yājñavalkya. As such, the book is unique within the field of Indology because it goes beyond the usual dismissive descriptions of such personalities as mere eponyms or arbitrary placeholders for sagely authority. In contrast, Lindquist shows how coherent features of thought and rhetorical style provided a solid core text-persona called Yājñavalkya, around whom a host of distinctive ideas and styles of debate and expression were carried through several genres of Vedic and classical Hindu sacred writing.”
—Donald R. Davis Jr., University of Texas at Austin

SPECIFICATIONS

ISBN: 978-93-95474-30-6
Number of pages: 348
Size: 16 x 24 x 3 cm
Year of publication: 2026
Binding: Hardcover
Weight: 671 grams
Price: ₹ 2295

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