The Ramayana traditions of South India and Southeast Asia are examined at multiple levels in this volume. The research presented here offers in-depth investigations of chosen moments in the development of the epic tradition together with broader trends that help in understanding the epic?s multivalence. The journey and localization of the R?m?ya?a is explored in its manifold expressions ? from classical to folk, from temples and palaces to theatres and by-lanes in cities and villages, and from ancient to modern times. Regional R?m?ya?as from different parts of South India and Southeast Asia are placed in deliberate juxtaposition to enable a historically informed discussion of their connected pasts across land and seas. The three parts of this volume, organized as visual, literary, and performance cultures, discuss the sculpted, painted, inscribed, written, recited, and performed Ramayanas. A related emphasis is on the way boundaries of medium and genre have been crossed in the visual, literary, and performed representations of the R?m?ya?a.These are rewarding directions of research that have thus far received little attention. Bringing together 19 well-known scholars in Ramayana studies from Cambodia, Canada, France, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, UK, and USA, this thought-provoking and elegantly illustrated volume engages with the inherent plurality, diversity, and adaptability of the R?m?ya?a in changing socio-political, religious, and cultural contexts and with shifting norms, tastes, traditions, and ideologies.

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The book comprises of papers which reflect on the multiple strands of scholarship on ancient India and also explores alternate perspectives for understanding India?s past. Both textual and archaeological sources are used in framing the book, and the themes include connected histories, identities, and cultural practices, which make the book an interesting read. It is a beginning to revitalize India?s diverse and profound past with a new-found rigour to inform the reader the incredible diversity and richness of the historical construction of the past.

India?s Princely States have enjoyed only a minor place in the narrative of modern nationhood. Certain Princely States used the dynamics of transfer of power to carve autonomy from the colonial British to advance their societies. Some of the Princely States modernized their education, public health and industrial sectors way ahead of the British administered territories. Prof Washbrook provides a macro picture of the dynamics in the Princely States of South India and sees a distinctive and indigenous form of modernity. Hierarchy, religion, heredity and caste were not obliterated for rationalism and secularism. As socialism and pseudo-secularism are fading away, the significance of the indigenous forms of modernity of the Princely States becomes more relevant to understand India in the 21st century. Ten historian thought leaders provide an interesting perspective to make it a compelling read. K Sadashiva is the architect of this book. As he developed the theme and brought together historians from various parts of the world, an interesting tapestry was woven. He is a historian actively researching the Indian Union, the Princely States and the rise of political power of caste and class in independent India. D A Prasanna has an interest in history, visual art, public health and education. He has supported new initiatives in these fields and has actively nurtured ideas to result in outcomes