Genre: | Asian History |
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Language : | English |
Published: | August 31, 2020 |
Edition: | 1st |
Paperback | |
ISBN13: | 9780143448600 |
ISBN10: | 0143448609 |
Pages: | 256 |
Dimensions: | 5.08 x 7.8 x 0.65 inches |
Weight: | 189.94 g |
First published in 1996 when he was eighty-eight years old, this selection of nearly six decades of Raja Rao's non-fiction is an audacious contemplation on the deeper significance of India. A combination of fables, journeys, discussions and meditations, The Meaning of India advances the view that India is not just a geographical entity, or even a civilization-state. India is, above all, a metaphysic, a way of being and regarding the self and the world.
Drawing on a wide range of sources-including the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Gita, the Buddha, Sankara, Bhartrihari, Kalidasa, Dostoevsky, Valéry, Rilke, Mann and Mallarmé-as also meetings with Gandhi, Nehru, Forster and Malraux, Rao teases out the implications of Advaita or non-dualism, which he regards as India's unique contribution to the world.