Category: Book Reviews

A Lay Reader’s Reflection on Johannes Bronkhorst’sHow the Brahmins Won: From Alexander to the Guptas, New Delhi, Manohar Publishers, 2025 🐘 Taming the Elephant: The Power of Story The simplest answer to the question, “How did the Brahmins win?” is this: by telling stories. A Tamil proverb captures this well: யானை வரும் பின்னே மணி ஓசை…

Whenever we read any biography, we should always ask whether it is half-full or half-empty. This question came to my mind when I read Aditya Mukherjee’s book: Nehru’s India: Past, Present, and Future (Gurugram, Vintage, 2024). Every important figure throughout history has faced scrutiny by succeeding generations. When even the tallest Indian leader, Mahatma Gandhi,…

AN INDETITY CRISIS /AN IDENTITY/ WHERE AM I/ WHERE I STAND IN MY IDENTITY/ TO WHOM I BELONG.                    Brahmabandhab Upadhyay  The Life and Thought of a Revolutionary                       Julius J. Lipner, Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1999.                                     Reviewed by dayanand bharati (As Lipner uses both the parenthesis ( ) & [ ] I use…

Rolland Allen The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church and the causes which hinder it. Roland Allen, WS Publishers, 1997.  Synopsis cum Review by dayanand bharati. Introduction No prophet is respected or accepted in his own time or by his own people.  At the same time as he is talking more from his heart and not…

T. S. Rukmani, Samnyasi in the Hindu tradition, Changing Perspectives, New Delhi, D.K. Printworld (p) Ltd. 2011. Yet to be edited Samnyasin in the Hindu Tradition The book by T.S. Rukmani, ‘Samnyasin in the Hindu Tradition —Changing Perspectives—is a specialized subject on Samnyasins.  This book is mainly based on the interviews among 31 Samnyasis/Samnyasinis by…

 The Mysticism of Ramanuja, Cyril Veliath S.J., Munshiram Manoharlal, Delhi, 1993                                     Reviewed by Dayanand Bharati.             Mysticism, like advaita is a subject which is to be experienced and not expressed.  At the same time a mystic cannot keep his experience within himself and hence he has to use human language to express ‘himself’ through…

Ramakrishna and Christ or The Paradox of the Incarnation.                                     Hans Torwestern Translated by John Phillips from the German original ‘Ramakrishna und Christus oder das Paradox der Inkarnation’, The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Calcutta, 199. INTRODUCTION: Incarnation, though paradoxical one, need not be unique as claimed by Christians in Jesus but universal one as…

Puranas and Acculturation: A Historico -Anthropological Perspective. Vijay Nath, Munshirma Manoharlal, New Delhi, 2001. Content, Comments and Conclusion by Dayanand Bharati. [Though the author uses Brahmana for Brahmins, as Brahmana is also stands for the part of Veda, which the author herself uses with the same spelling for Brahmana, in order to make the distinction…

                        Does end justifies means?                                     His Star in the East By Fr. A Sauliere SJ. Revised and Re-edited by Fr S Rajamanickam Sj ‘Does “End” justifies the “Means”,? always remains an un-resolved question in several areas of human life.  Particularly in the area of sharing the gospel rather ‘planting’ the gospel, the question of…