Roli Books – serie

Pavan K. Varma’s illustrated bestseller, Kama Sutra: The Art of Making Love to a Woman is a modern adaptation of Vatsyayana’s classic, Kama Sutra. Varma’s take on the classic treatise is a celebration of love and lovemaking to a woman. The two-thousand year old text, rewritten for a contemporary audience is a confirmation that being sensitive to a woman’s needs is at the heart of the experience.

‘A good lover has to be sensitive to a woman’s needs.’ Pavan K. Varma’s new-age adaptation of Vatsyayana’s cult classic Kama Sutra makes precisely this point. Keeping in mind the celebrated sage’s instruction that men and women are equal partners in the act of consummation, Varma takes us on a witty journey through what has sometimes been seen as a ‘heavy’ manual on sex, and at others as a volume of titillating visuals. This adaptation is a serious tribute to the genius and vision of Vatsyayana, highlighting the ‘modernity’ of what he wrote two thousand years ago – that the fulfilment of women is at the heart of the experience of sex, and that the lines between sex and sensuality, and between social mores and individual desire are indeed fine and must be understood deeply.

The Kamasutra is an ancient classical work on the art of love. Its uniqueness lies in that it discusses the theme of sexual pleasure without any feeling of shyness or shame.

The author, Vatsyayana talks about Kama, that is, sexual pleasure, and explains the rules which govern life according to Kama. Through its discussion on erotic love, the book manages to highlight the social customs and individual habits of ancient India.

This tastefully produced and beautifully illustrated gift edition treats the subject of male and female sexuality in two separate volumes, suggestively entitled The Amorous Man and the Sensuous Woman. The male-female union is portrayed in all its splendor through the use of Indian miniatures and Khajuraho sculptures.

In 1739, Qaraar Ali, a young craftsman from Delhi witnesses the destruction of his world as he has known it. His wondrous city where he found love, spirituality, the friendship of poets and philosophers becomes a desolate, scorching hell. From the embers of his past, a journey begins; one which takes him into the depths of Sufi philosophy. Traversing spectacular landscapes of a fading Mughal Empire, a turbulent Central Asia and Persia, a culturally retreating Ottoman Empire and declining Spanish influence, Qaraar Ali finds hope in the sacred geometry of the Sufis through which he attempts at rebuilding his life and rediscovering love. A deeply passionate love story imbued with spirituality, acceptance, compassion and redemption, The Lost Fragrance of Infinity gives a much-deserved voice to Sufism and its contributions to humanity, art, mathematics, mysticism and science.

This book is an ode to the mythological heritage of Bharatanatyam. The visual narrative captures the rich heritage of this temple dance and its original exponents, the Devadasis or ‘handmaidens of the deity’. Its repertoire of movements and moods bring alive the fascinating stories of Hindu gods and goddesses and their kaleidoscopic lives. In the following pages, the authors have traced the myths and legends that are cherished in our performing arts, to delight the culture-curious reader. And what is interesting is that in these stories, the reader will discover the inter-connectedness of ancient mythologies around the world. Perhaps such discoveries go a long way in validating the role that art plays in connecting civilisations. The book is designed to engage the reader without pedagogy or scholastic strictures, but with a lightness of touch, that entertains while it informs. Because the vision here is to weave information, anecdotes and trivia, together in the spirit of a popular cultural ranconteur. Replete with rare photographs curated from the Sohinimoksha World Dance and Communications archives, complemented by a lucid narrative that wraps facts in the language of romance and adventure, this book promises to be a collector’s item for those who value the legacy of India’s most celebrated dance form. For glimpses of some live performances by Sohini Roychowdhury, and her Sohinimoksha World Dance troupe, celebrating the music, dance, mythology of India and the World, go on-line to ‘Dancing With The God.... with Sohinimoksha World Dance’ at https://youtu.be/naR7p6SKiko

We are constantly surrounded by objects, by ‘things’ that channel and dictate our everyday life, ‘things’ that we take for granted. But these objects speak to us, and speak about us. They have a story to tell that reflects our values and aspirations, our achievements and dreams, and reveal more about us than we realise! This richly illustrated book focuses on 100 objects to tell a story of India that unravels in a series of thematic sections that allow the objects to take centre-stage. The stories that some objects tell will be new to readers; at other times, the objects themselves may be familiar but the story they tell may not be obvious. The 100 objects shed light on the varying priorities and the differing strands of achievement that arose over time to create the rich multi-cultural medley that is today’s India.