18 Books


The Parsi Theatre: Its Origins and Development by Somnath Gupt, edited and translated by Kathryn Hansen, Chicago University Press, ISBN 9781803092003, £19.99


Unrivalled in its long-term impact, Parsi theatre remains a crucial component of South Asia’s cultural heritage. Like vaudeville in America, this theatre dominated mass entertainment in colonial India in the era before cinema. Drawn by the magic


of sight and sound, crowds filled the country’s urban playhouses each night. Marked by extravagant acting, operatic singing, and melodramatic stage effects, this cosmopolitan theatre brought an unprecedented level of sophistication to the South Asian stage and transformed commercial drama into a modern industry, paving the way for Indian cinema. Tis volume presents Somnath Gupt’s classic history of Parsi theatere in an English translation enhanced by illustrations, annotations, and appendices, which make it a more comprehensive and accurate reference work.


published here for the first time, including Kanaganahalli and Phanigiri, the most important new discoveries in a generation. With its exploration of Buddhism’s emergence in southern India, as well as of India’s deep commercial and cultural engagement with the Hellenised and Roman worlds, the definitive study expands our understanding of the origins of Buddhist art itself.


Adornment and Splendour: Jewels of the Indian Courts by Salam Kaouki, Thames & Hudson, ISBN 9780500978641, £60


Tis is the definitive catalogue of a collection of Indian jewellery and jewelled luxury objects made at the height of the Mughal empire and Deccan sultanates in the 16th and 17th centuries. Te collection, regarded as one of the finest in the world, was assembled by Sheikh Nasser and Sheikha Hussa al-Sabah for Te al-Sabah Collection, Kuwait. For centuries, master jewellers have developed a wide array of unique techniques that had developed workshops that create sophisticated jewels and objects. Exotic birds and animals, flowers, trees and mythological scenes rendered in precious gemstones, gold and enamel demonstrate these artists’ imagination and skill. Tey produced not only a wide range of jewellery to adorn the body, but also created ritual and household items of astonishing refinement and luxury. Extravagantly large engraved gemstones were also used to serve as symbols of their patrons’ royal power – included in the collection is a spinel of nearly 250 carats believed to be the Timur Ruby. Te catalogue also includes the finest and most valuable pieces in the collection – some familiar to the public, others published here for the first time – but also many previously unknown types that extend our understanding of artistic output in the region. With specially commissioned photography giving new views of more than 300 objects. Includes an extensive bibliography.


A Splendid Land:


Paintings from Royal Udaipur edited by Debra Diamond and Dipti Khera, Hirmer, ISBN 9783777439440, £55


How and why did painters centre sensory experience, enchanting emotions, and cultural landscapes in South Asia? A Splendid Land was the first exhibition to address this question through dazzling paintings made over a period of 200 years, spanning from Mughal to colonial India, that have never been published or exhibited in the US. Around 1700, artists in Udaipur began creating large, immersive paintings to convey the mood (bhava) of the city’s palaces, lakes, and mountains. Te catalogue explores how painters depicted places, mapped terrains, and


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triggered memories to foster political and personal attachments to land.


Beyond Bollywood


by Forrest McGill, University of Hawaii Press, ISBN 9780939117925, £50


Dance is everywhere in the art and culture of the Indian cultural sphere, whether it is the sacred dance of a god bringing the world into being or the sensual performance of a courtly lady before a maharaja. Tis exhibition and catalogue explores 2000 Years of Dance in the Arts of South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Himalayan Region. More often than the divine beings of other cultures, the gods of Hinduism and Buddhism dance. Tey express their creative and destructive energies through fluid rhythmic movements, setting the pulse of the universe. In benign moods, they dance gracefully in sublime play. In stern moods, they dance with a force that, if fully unleashed, could destroy worlds. In daily life people have long danced for worship, for festivals, for the entertainment of kings and princes, and for their own enjoyment. All these sorts of dance, both sacred and secular, have been represented, or embodied, by artists over many centuries in superb sculptures and paintings, and in recent decades in film and new media.


Adventurers: The Improbable Rise of the East India Company by David Howarth, Yale University Press, ISBN 9780300250725, £20


Tis book traces the unlikely beginnings of the East India Company (EIC), from Tudor origins and rivalry with the superior Dutch to laying the groundwork for future British expansion. Te EIC was the largest commercial enterprise in British history, yet its roots in Tudor England are often overlooked. Te Tudor revolution in commerce led ambitious merchants to search for new forms of investment, not least in risky overseas enterprises and for these ‘adventurers’ the most profitable bet of all would be on the Company. Trough stories and a host of fascinating details, the author brings to life the Company’s way of doing business, from the leaky ships and petty seafarers of its embattled early days to later sweeping commercial success. Drawing on an abundance of sources, Howarth shows how competition from European powers was vital to success and considers whether the Company was truly ‘English’ at all, or rather part of a Europe-wide movement.


Courting India: England, Mughal India and the Origins of Empire by Nandini Das, Bloomsbury, ISBN 9781526615664, £25


When Tomas Roe arrived in India in 1616 as James I’s first ambassador


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to the Mughal Empire, the English barely had a toehold in the subcontinent. Teir understanding of South Asian trade and India was sketchy at best, and, to the Mughals, they were minor players on a very large stage. Roe was representing a kingdom that was beset by financial woes and deeply conflicted about its identity as a unified ‘Great Britain’ under the Stuart monarchy. Meanwhile, the court he entered in India was wealthy and cultured, its dominion widely considered to be one of the greatest and richest empires of the world. In recording the history of Roe’s four years in India, the author offers an insider’s view of a Britain in the making, a country whose imperial seeds were just being sown. It is a story of palace intrigue and scandal, lotteries and wagers that unfolds as global trade begins to stretch from Russia to Virginia, from West Africa to the Spice Islands of Indonesia.


Shadows at Noon: South Asian Twentieth Century by Joya Chatterji, Bodley Head, ISBN 9781847925497, £30


Shadows at Noon tells the subcontinent’s story from the British Raj through independence and partition to the forging of the modern nations of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Unlike other histories of the region which concentrate exclusively on politics, here food, leisure and the household are given as much importance as nationhood, migration and the state. Tematic rather than chronological, each chapter illuminates an overarching topic that has shaped South Asia. Tis format enables us to explore issues – like the changing character of the family or the ‘Indian diet’ – over time and in depth. Chatterji’s purpose is to make contemporary South Asia - its cultural vibrancy, diversity, social structures and political make-up – intelligible to everyone. In so doing this bold, innovative and personal work rallies against standard narratives of ‘inherent’ differences between India, Pakistan and Bangladesh and reveals the many things its people have in common.


Aam Aastha: Indian Devotions by Charles Fréger, Thames & Hudon, ISBN 9780500024980, £30


Photographer Charles Fréger continues to explore global traditions and cultures, by celebrating the powerful visual aspects of Indian folk culture and religious ritual. India is the home to a myriad of local traditions, legends and religions, each with their own festivals, rites and rituals. Celebrations burst with vivid colours and often wildly exuberant costumes, some representing gods and goddesses, others legendary heroes from Sanskrit epics such as the Mahabharata and the Ramayana.


Diaspora of the Gods: Modern Hindu Temples in an Urban Middle-Class World by Joanne Punzo Waghorn, Oxford University Press, ISBN 9780195156645, £48.99


Te author leads her readers on a journey through this new middle- class Hindu diaspora, focusing on their efforts to build and support places of worship. She seeks to trace the changing religious sensibilities of the middle classes as written on their temples and on the faces of their gods. She offers detailed comparisons of temples in Chennai (formerly Madras), London, and Washington, DC, and interviews temple priests, devotees, and patrons. In the process, she


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illuminates the interrelationships between ritual worship and religious edifices, the rise of the modern world economy, and the ascendancy of the great middle class. Te result is a comprehensive portrait of Hinduism as lived today by so many both in India and throughout the world.


The History of Nepal: The Jewel in the Himalayas


by Pema James Dorji and Einer Felix Hansen, independently published, ISBN 9798853024144, £6.95


Te History of Nepal invites the reader to embark on an adventure, to learn, to be inspired, and to connect with the rich heritage of Nepal, from its mythical origins, ancient dynasties, and medieval kingdoms to the architectural marvels, spiritual heritage, and natural wonders that make the present-day Nepal. Te history takes you from the bustling streets of Kathmandu to the serene landscapes of the Annapurna Circuit, on a journey of the sights and cultural treasures that define country.


Southeast Asia Global Ikat:


Roots and Routes of a Textile Technique ed by Rosemary Crill with David Paly, Hali Publications, ISBN 9781898113904, £40


Deceptively simple or fantastically intricate, ikat technique has been used for many centuries to create extravagant costumes and cloths of deep cultural meaning. Te distinctively blurred, feathered or jagged patterns of ikat-dyed textiles are found across much of the world, from Japan in the east to Central and South America in the west, with vast areas of South-east Asia, India, Central Asia and the Middle East in between. Te traditional patterns still hold cultural relevance today in significant parts of the long-established ikat-weaving areas. Textile artists and fashion designers in many and varied countries have taken ikat in new directions, respecting traditional forms and palettes while creatively diverging from them. Tis is the first time all the different iterations of this textile have been comprehensively brought together in one volume, drawing from the wide-ranging collection of David Paly.


Storied Island


ed by Ronit Ricci, Brill, ISBN 9789004541467 Euro 89


Javanese literature is one of the world’s richest and most unusual literary traditions yet it is little known today outside of Java, Indonesia, and a handful of western universities. With its more than a millennium of documented history, its complex interactions over the centuries with literature written in Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, Malay and Dutch, its often symbiotic relationship with the performing arts of puppetry and dance, and its


own immense creativity and insight, this vastly understudied literature offers a lens to understanding Java’s fascinating world as well as human ingenuity more broadly. Te essays in this volume take a fresh look at questions and themes pertaining to Java’s literature, employing new theoretical and methodological lenses.


Burma to Myanmar edited by Alexandra Green, The British Museum, ISBN £35


From the emergence of early agricultural communities and stratified societies to the rise of powerful empires and religious developments in Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Christianity, and to the eras of colonial rule and independence, curator and art historian Alexandra Green traces and explores the variety of Southeast Asian cultures. Te texts describe the region through a broad range of objects, including sculptures from the historic civilizations of Java, Angkor, Bagan and Sukhothai, as well as ceramics, furniture, religious items, basketry, textiles, popular posters and contemporary art.


Southeast Asia: A History in Objects by Alexandra Green, The British Museum, ISBN 9780500480878, £32


Southeast Asia is home to numerous world heritage sites and through texts and examples of objects from the British Museum collection, it aims to explore the complex history and culture of these countries. Arranged chronologically and thematically into seven chapters, this book offers a new approach to understanding the region. Every object tells a story to illuminate the civilisations, societies and local cultures that have defined Southeast Asia over the past 6,000 years. From the emergence of early agricultural communities and stratified societies to the rise of powerful empires and religious developments in Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Christianity, and to the eras of colonial rule and independence. Te texts describe the region through a broad range of objects, including sculptures from the historic civilizations of Java, Angkor, Bagan and Sukhothai, as well as ceramics, furniture, religious items, basketry, textiles, popular posters and contemporary art.


An Honourable Exit by Eric Vuillard, translated by Mark Polizzotti, Picador, ISBN 9781035003976, £14.99


It is 19 October 1950. Te war is not going to plan. In Paris, politicians gather to discuss what to do about Indochina. Te conflict is unpopular back home in France: too expensive, and too far away for the public to care. Withdrawal is not an option – a global power cannot surrender to an army of peasants – but victory is impossible without more soldiers and more money. Te soldiers can be sourced from the colonies, but the money is out of the question. A solution needs to be found. Eric Vuillard exposes the tangled web of politicians, bankers and titans of


Unseen Burma: Early Photography 1862-1962 by Thweep Rittinaphakorn, River Books, ISBN 9786164510678, £35


When the British colonised Burma, they brought with them the latest technology in cameras and photographic reproduction, and since these were introduced to Burma as early as the middle of the 19th century, the


country is richly catalogued and photographed. Te new technology was first popularised by Western practitioners (Germans, Italians and the British) and upperclass patrons, but then spread to the mass market. Tai scholar Tweep Rittinaphakorn (Ake) has written and lectured widely on Burmese culture.


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