Bhaskar Parichha
‘Unique Bharat’ (Apratim Bharat in Hindi). As the title suggests, this is an exceptional book on Indian culture. If today India is promoted as ‘Incredible’ for its tourism opulence, its five thousand-years old culture too is of highest order and matchless.
An attempt has been made in this book to put all that comprises of the ‘Sanatana Dharma’ (Hinduism) on a wider canvas. Published on behalf of Sri Bhagabat Parivar(Mumbai) Prabhat Prakasan, New Delhi has come out with a stunning book .
The idea of this book is to further comprehend and explore Indian culture. It is a bilingual publication and there are some 40 article written by various scholars. Half of these articles are in Hindi and the rest are in English.
The book starts with a piece on Swami Vivekananda by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Other eminent men who have contributed include the former Chief Justice of India Justice RC Lahoti, scholar extraordinaire Vidyanivas Mishra, Dr. Murali Mohan Joshi, noted litterateur Prof Ramesh Chandra Shah, renowned critique of Indian culture Kailash Chandra Panth, historian Prof. Rameshwar Mishra ‘Pankaj’, Dr. Vasudev Saran Agarwal, and Dr. Rajendra Ranjan Chaturvedi. While well-known journalist Viswanatah Sachdev writes on the evolution of Indian women and their thought process since the mediaeval times, social thinker Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay deliberates on a new value system for Indian politics. Noted environmentalist and Gandhian writer Anupam Mishra has written on the inherent significance of Indian life.
Well-known Indologist Dr. Mridul Kirti, Author Neerja Madhav, Madhya Pradesh government’s principal secretary, culture Manoj Kumar Srivastav, Prof. Surya Prasad Dixit, Dr. Tankmani amma, Art critique Narmada Prasad Upadhyay, Suresh Chaturvedi, Dinannath Chaturvedi, Alka Agarwal Sigtia and Dr. Hansa Pradeep have contributed on various facets of Indian culture. Each of these articles throws new light on the cultural traditions and their current relevance.
As the editorial says, ‘when appreciation and love for our nation is backed by knowledge it becomes a tool for growth. The book is a humble attempt to present nuggets of our ancient wisdom in simple and short essays and fill that vacuum.’
The English section consists of fifteen articles – the opening one being a piece by former President of India Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. His call to the youth for national resurgence is well known. Noted philanthropist Azim Premji writes on revamping India’s educational system.
Other thinkers and men of eminence who have written on various themes include Dr. Ravindra Kumar(new education), R Chidambaram ( ancient science and modern research) Ratan Sarada (problems of Indian culture). Other contributors include Amish Tripathy, Shefali Vaidya, HC Parekh, Sandeep Singh, Rajan Khanna, Dr. Gauri Mahulikar, Neerja Chawla, Dr. Varun Suthra.
A book of little than more than two hundred pages,’Unique Bharat’ is a welcome addition to the annals of India’s culture , customs,society,way of life and the value system.
While there is a dichotomy seen today in the ‘eternal and absolute set of duties and religiously ordained practices’ every Hindu is expected to follow regardless of class, caste and sect, and the fact that there is a lot of disagreement on what is Hindu culture vis-à-vis other religious followings, this compendium of articles will go a long way to reassess and redefine our cultural moorings.
Unique Bharat
Publisher:Prabhat Prakasan
4/19 Asaf Ali Road New Delhi – 110002
Rs. 1500
(The writer is a senior journalist and currently associated with OdishaLIVE as Consulting Editor. You can share your comment with him at content(@)odisha(dot)live)
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