Was Sita present when Rama bent the bow to win her hand in marriage? As per the Ramayana authored by both Valmiki and Kamban, the news of Rama breaking the bow was sent to Sita through her female companions. But the Tulsi Ramayana insists that Sita was present at the Swayamvaram hall when the auspicious […]
The return of Ramayana and Mahabharata in research and fictional retellings has occupied a significant place in the literary-academic domain in the last three decades. Unlike the early 20th century readings, which either endorsed traditional values or totally rejected them as oppressive, the 1990s and the years that followed offered novel readings, rather re-readings of […]
In Satyajit Ray: From Frame to Frame, Shoma Chatterji examines patterns emerging from Satyajit Ray’s body of work and groups his films under broad categories like hunger, masculinity, femininity. Subha Das Mollick reviews the book. Published by Vitasta in 2022, Shoma Chatterji’s book Satyajit Ray: From Frame to Frame is an interesting addition to the oeuvre of literature on […]
Ancient India, until the beginning of the second millennium, was a highly educated society with rich ancient and medieval systems of production and knowledge dissemination, as well as economic prosperity and social and political maturity, maintaining “the long tradition of pride and service” (Young India, 20 March, 1924). However, developments during the second millennium, particularly […]
Kathak Lok, written by Shovana Narayan and Geetika Kalha, is almost like a spiritual journey into the depths of an art form, which initially began as formless, as the concept of Brahma. From the foreword itself, the book reverberates with the sights and sounds of magical performances of the kathakars in all their purity. The […]
There are innumerable books that have been written on Satyajit Ray, India’s best known film director in the realm of realism. Even though Ray covered a wide range of subjects such as feudalism, feminism, masculinity, oppression, poverty, love – you name it – the sensitive portrayal in each and every one of his films have […]
Ramayana: A Comparative Study of Ramakathas is an award-winning opus by A.A. Manavalan. The book is a meticulous exploration of the diverse versions of Ramayana found within and outside the Indian subcontinent. Beginning with a preface written by C.T. Indra, who wrote its English translation, followed by a foreword by the critic Indira Parthasarathy, the […]
Vitasta would like to thank Professor Dinesh Srivastava, Homi Bhabha Chair at The National Institute of Advanced Studies for this wonderful review of our book – ‘Jivaka the Child who Healed‘ by Malavika Kapur! ‘My most pleasant memories include sitting around a fire on a winter night and listening to our grandmother tell stories. She […]
Mohan Ramanan’s review of ‘Ramayana: A Comparative Study of Ramakathas’ translated by C T Indra & Prema Jagannathan in The Critical Endeavour — an annual peer-reviewed research journal devoted to World Literatures in English, Bhasa Literatures, Main Stream English Literature, Indian English Literature, Literary Theories, and Translation Studies.
Prem Nath ran his business from a shop in the busy and bustling shopping center at Amira Kadal in the heart of Srinagar. He was a successful cloth merchant and his sales were brisk in spite of the terrorism that had gripped Kashmir and paralyzed business. People needed clothes to wear; women were commanded to […]
