Richard H. Davis Knihy

Gods in Print is the first comprehensive collection of early hand-colored lithographs, multiple-block chromolithographs, and offset print images of India’s world of gods and goddesses. India’s love of gods in print began in the 1870s with the founding of the Calcutta Art Studio and the Chitrashala Press. In 1894, artists Ravi and Raja Varma set up the Ravi Varma Fine Art Lithographic Press outside Bombay. By the early 1900s, these presses had begun selling their prints throughout the subcontinent. Collectors Mark Baron and Elise Boisante have traveled to remote corners of India to document and preserve this fragile and beautiful popular art form. Their diligence in tracking down “God prints” and restoring them to their original brilliance has resulted in the extraordinary and comprehensive collection featured in this volume. For the first time, the full scope of India’s sacred imagery in print can be viewed from its earliest days.

This reprint of the 1897 edition offers a faithful reproduction of the original text, preserving the historical context and insights of the time. It presents a compelling narrative that explores themes of adventure and the complexities of fortune in the lives of soldiers. Readers can expect a rich portrayal of characters and their experiences, reflecting the era's unique perspectives and challenges.

Chronicling India's religious diversity over two millennia, Richard Davis explores the evolution of various faiths from 1300 BCE to 700 CE. He highlights the birth of major religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, alongside lesser-known folk practices. Through a rich tapestry of hymns, poems, and artifacts, Davis reveals how these religious cultures interacted, debated, and influenced each other within a dynamic social and political landscape. The narrative showcases the vibrant and complex nature of early Indian spirituality, emphasizing its multifaceted voices and visions.

The book explores the intricate relationship between Saiva liturgy and the philosophical underpinnings of Saiva siddhanta, emphasizing the transformative power of daily worship. Richard Davis utilizes medieval Hindu texts to illustrate how rituals embody key themes of Saiva philosophy, such as cosmic cycles and the quest for liberation. By examining the practices of a twelfth-century worshiper, he reveals the interconnectedness of knowledge and action, highlighting the belief in a unified consciousness that shapes human experience and divine interaction.

The book explores the belief among Hindus that religious images in temples and home shrines are imbued with life through a ritual process conducted by priests. These rituals involve a series of daily activities that treat the images as divine beings, including awakening, bathing, dressing, and feeding them. Richard Davis presents a series of case studies demonstrating that these interactions indeed animate the religious objects, suggesting that the devotees' perceptions of their sacred images as living entities hold a deeper truth.

"The Bhagavad Gita, perhaps the most famous of all Indian scriptures, is universally regarded as one of the world's spiritual and literary masterpieces. Richard Davis tells the story of this venerable and enduring book, from its origins in ancient India to its reception today as a spiritual classic that has been translated into more than seventy-five languages. The Gita opens on the eve of a mighty battle, when the warrior Arjuna is overwhelmed by despair and refuses to fight. He turns to his charioteer, Krishna, who counsels him on why he must. In the dialogue that follows, Arjuna comes to realize that the true battle is for his own soul. Davis highlights the place of this legendary dialogue in classical Indian culture, and then examines how it has lived on in diverse settings and contexts. He looks at the medieval devotional traditions surrounding the divine character of Krishna and traces how the Gita traveled from India to the West, where it found admirers in such figures as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and Aldous Huxley. Davis explores how Indian nationalists like Mahatma Gandhi and Swami Vivekananda used the Gita in their fight against colonial rule, and how contemporary interpreters reanimate and perform this classical work for audiences today. An essential biography of a timeless masterpiece, this book is an ideal introduction to the Gita and its insights into the struggle for self-mastery that we all must wage"-- Provided by publisher