Devika Rangachari

Despised by her father and bullied by his heir, Didda's childhood is miserable and her future, bleak. When she is married off to the dissolute ruler of Kashmira, she must learn to hold her own in a court ridden with factions and conspiracies. But Didda is no ordinary queen. Ruthless and ambitious, she wants to rewrite history. Will she succeed?

Queen of Ice

From c. 324 BCE to c. 185 BCE, the Mauryas controlled almost the entire Indian subcontinent with efficiency and administrative finesse. Beginning with the origins of Magadha in the sixth century BCE, this definitive book on the Mauryas captures the drama, the colourful betrayals and the intrigues of the Mauryan dynasty in Magadha, starting with its enigmatic founder, Chandragupta Maurya, and his even more enigmatic mentor, Chanakya/ Kautilya, who helped him to get the throne. Chandragupta’s son and heir, Bindusara, is an extremely shadowy, elusive figure in the historical narrative of the Mauryas. Sandwiched between his well-known father and his even more well-known son, Ashoka, Bindusara has slipped through the cracks of known history. Yet the little bits of evidence that we glean about him from varied sources suggest a ruler of power and foresight. A man of eclectic and whimsical tastes, even, who ensured that his heir would inherit a vaster empire than he did. Ashoka, Bindusara’s son, was not only the most powerful Mauryan ruler but also one of the best-known monarchs in Indian history. There are several wildly imaginative tales that document his transition from Ashoka the Fierce to Ashoka the Contrite, consequent on the battle of Kalinga in c. 261 BCE where, horrified at the bloodshed, he underwent a radical personal and spiritual transformation and documented this fact all over his empire through inscriptions on pillars and rocks that have endured till today—a brilliant, pioneering method of communication. An incisive wit and humour makes Devika Rangachari’s The Mauryas sparkle even when it is disentangling grave accounts of significant battles or tedious details of city planning. Culling details from secular and religious literary traditions, Graeco-Roman accounts and archaeological evidence to elucidate this lesser-known period of our ancient past, The Mauryas concludes with an analysis of the enduring legacy of this remarkable dynasty and its strong resonances in our present.

Chandragupta to Ashoka: The Backstories, The Sagas, The Legacies

The Mauryas

This book tells the stories of ten Indian monarchs who find, at best, passing mention in the history textbooks we read, though their lives were exciting and their achievements considerable: Ajatashatru | Bindusara | Rudradaman | Pulakeshin II | Jayapida | Didda | Ramapala | Abbakka | Chand Bibi | Ahilyabai Holkar Historian and award-winning novelist, Devika Rangachari writes absorbing tales of the men and women who shaped lives and kingdoms in their times.

10 Indian Monarchs

'I will not yield. . .' Lakshmibai, the widowed queen of Jhansi, is determined to protect her son's right to his father's throne and safeguard the welfare of her kingdom. Faced with machinations to take over Jhansi, at a time when all of India is rising up against the British, she has to prove her valour and sagacity time and again. But will this be enough to save all that she values? In this gripping novel, award-winning historical novelist Devika Rangachari brings to vivid life the interior life of this nineteenth-century queen, thrust into a position she does not desire but must assume, and of her son, who is cowed by the challenges he has to face but determined to live up to his mother's courage.

Queen of Fire

The true story of the fearsome Rani of Jhansi, the Indian Queen who took on the East India Trading Company in the Indian Rebellion of 1857 The British first came to India as traders. Now they're here as soldiers, taking over new territories, and they've got their eye on the small kingdom of Jhansi. But they aren't prepared for the kingdom's courageous queen. Lakshmibai, the Rani of Jhansi, rides a magnificent horse and wields her own sword; she trains other women to fight alongside her; she is determined that the kingdom will pass from her to her adopted son. So when the British demand that she hand over control, she refuses. And when an uprising begins to stir, the Rani will have to decide whether or not to join the fight. Devika Rangachari is an award-winning writer whose book, Queen of Ice (Duckbill), was on the White Raven list, won the Neev Young Adult Book Award and has been optioned to be made into a movie/TV series. Her other books include 10 Indian Monarchs Whose Amazing Stories You May Not Know, Tales of Love and Adventure, Swami Vivekananda - A Man With A Vision, Harsha Vardhana, The Merry Mischief of Gopal Bhand, The Wit of Tenali Raman and Growing Up. She is currently the recipient of a prestigious national fellowship awarded by the ministry of culture in India to research aspects of gender and historical fiction in Indian children's literature.

The Queen of Jhansi in the Indian Uprising of 1857

Swordswoman!

The Wit Of Tenali Raman

This book examines certain gendered aspects of the early medieval period in north India (between the seventh and twelfth centuries ad) through a study of prominent but representative regional kingdoms located in Kashmir, Kanauj, and across Bengal and Bihar. By examining important epigraphic and literary sources pertaining to these polities in as comprehensive a manner as possible, it shows that gender is a cardinal angle from which to view this period and, additionally, that the same set of sources can yield differing interpretations. It also highlights the indifference of most secondary sources towards gender and related issues. The book, therefore, strives to address a lacuna in the historical reconstruction of the society and polity of this time-span. Although early medieval Kashmir, Kanauj and Bengal-Bihar are linked by their status as important regional powers in this period and by their close political interactions, the book shows that the role and status of women differed considerably according to their regional contexts. The picture, therefore, is not a unified one, thereby stressing the fact that sweeping statements on women cannot be made to apply to early medieval north India as a whole as has hitherto been the trend. The problems and possibilities involved in a gender analysis of this sort that examines the role and presence of women vis-à-vis men is highlighted, in the process. Areas with the potential for future investigation are also indicated. The pivotal importance of gender in any historical reconstruction of the early medieval period in north India is thereby underscored.

Gender, Society, and Polity in North India, Seventh to Twelfth Century AD

Invisible Women, Visible Histories

Rajatarangini Means 'River Of Kings'. The Stories Were Written In Verse By Kalhana, A Famous Eleventh-Century Historian-Poet. These Stories Cover Kashmir'S Rich Culture, Traditions And Beliefs.

Tales of Kashmir

Stories from Rajatarangini

'I am Prithvimahadevi, the goddess of the earth.' Prithvimahadevi is the daughter of the powerful Somavamshi king of Kosala. Her life is circumscribed by the rules that govern the existence of women of her royal family. She can only hope that she will marry a king whose power matches that of her ambitious father. Instead she is married to her father's enemy, the Bhaumakara ruler, Shubhakaradeva, whose way of life she finds alien and austere, and who worships strange gods. There seems to be no hope for her to fulfil her dreams of becoming a great queen-until suddenly one day, there is . . . But is she willing to play the game of sacrifice and betrayal that this will entail? The story of this ninth-century queen of Odisha by award-winning historical novelist Devika Rangachari will keep you riveted.

Queen of the Earth

Puffin Lives

Timothy D. Walker

Manuel Aguilar-Moreno

Milica Bakić-Hayden

Tuğba Tanyeri-Erdemir

Enrique López-Hurtado

Robert M. Hayden

Aykan Erdemir

Antagonistic Tolerance examines patterns of coexistence and conflict amongst members of different religious communities, using multidisciplinary research to analyze groups who have peacefully intermingled for generations, and who may have developed aspects of syncretism in their religious practices, and yet have turned violently on each other. Such communities define themselves as separate peoples, with different and often competing interests, yet their interaction is usually peaceable provided the dominance of one group is clear. The key indicator of dominance is control over central religious sites, which may be tacitly shared for long periods, but later contested and even converted as dominance changes. By focusing on these shared and contested sites, this volume allows for a wider understanding of relations between these communities. Using a range of ethnographic, historical and archaeological data from the Balkans, India, Mexico, Peru, Portugal and Turkey, Antagonistic Tolerance develops a comparative model of the competitive sharing and transformation of religious sites. These studies are not considered as isolated cases, but are instead woven into a unified analytical framework which explains how long-term peaceful interactions between religious communities can turn conflictual and even result in ethnic cleansing.

Devika Rangachari

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