Avatara

To save her world, a crown Princess faces WARTargon to the north, Karolac to the eastboth poised to strike without provocation. DECEITpeace envoys murdered by those with no honor. LUSTfrom men who would serve her, men who would harm her, and from deep within herself. BETRAYALby a traitor not even she would suspect. To save his people, an exiled Prince places himself between an avenging angel and her dark defendertwo deities that have no need to spare his life or his country. To protect his queen and blood-oath, a powerful Warlord must balance honor against loveor make the ultimate sacrifice. "AvatarA takes you on a journey of the heart and soul. It captures you with its mystery, holds you with its suspense, and fascinates you with its complexities. Chapman has created an intriguing world and irresistible characters worthy of being read again and again." Blair MacGregor, author of Ancient Promise and Honored Truth. "AvataraA is captivating reading, the characters compelling. Truly the Camelot of the stars." J.P. Handy, author of The Gamestress. "AvataraA is a masterful blend of fantasy and science fiction for adults. Its the kind of book youll find yourself reading at one in the morning despite yourself." John Hebert, columnist, Voice newspapers. "Quality stuff. I couldnt imagine being able to write like that!" John Bahnsen, Bay Area Writers Guild.

Professor de Nicolas presents the reader with actualized possibilities of knowing other cultures as they knew themselves. In his work, philosophy becomes an ongoing synthesis of knowledge and sensation. This new translation of The Bhagavad Gita, with its easy and beautiful reading, is a major philosophical attempt to read a most important text of a culture in it's own context.

This is a study of three Sanskrit texts, the Harivamsa, the Visnupurana, and the Bhagavatabelonging to the puranic genre, the chief source of knowledge of the origins of popular Hinduism. It treats them as integrated compositions and displays the theological motives and creative skill which have gone into the making of them. It shows how all three texts contain narratives which present Krishna as one of several subordinate manifestations (avataras) of Vishnu. All three use much the same traditional material, yet each, by arranging this material in its own way, presents a distinctive view of Krishna, and the most influential of them, the Bhagavata , builds up a world view in which Krishna, not Vishnu, is supreme.

The Shiva Purana is the fifth book in an eighteen-part series on the sacred Hindu texts known collectively as the Puranas. Translated with great rigor and precision, Bibek Debroy recounts the tales of creation and the many myths that surround Lord Shiva in twenty-four thousand shlokas and an introduction that simplifies the myth and history of the Puranas. Brimming with insight and clarity, this translation presents readers with an opportunity to truly understand classical Indian texts. Previous translations by Bibek Debroy include the Bhagavata Purana, the Markandeya Purana, the Brahma Purana, and the Vishnu Purana.

The Islamic concept of Qiyamat, and the Christian percept of The Day of Judgment coincide with the prophecies in the Hindu Kaala-Gnyaanam written by the Sage Sree Pothuluru Veera Brahmendra Swami of the 17th Century. Swamiji gave a graphic description of the Day which upon analysis suggests a sudden reversal of the magnetic polarity of the earth resulting in a Global Catastrophe. Mysterious incidents are prophesied. On the dark night of Amavasya (new moon), a full moon would appear. As people get wonderstruck, cattle look up towards the sky and start to cry. The sky will become red; the sun and the moon will appear side by side, the planets will change course; and the Sun will henceforth rise from the West. Unbelievable change in human and animal behaviour will be noticed; the just-born will speak to their mothers and jump out of their laps, animals will talk to humans, idols in temples will come to life, extreme sensuality and incest will become the norm, wood will sink and stones will float; everything will become topsy-turvy. The Kaala-Gnyaanam promises that at such a time the Saviour Kalki will descend from the skies astride a white horse Devadutta, with a long sword in hand, followed by an army of valiant warriors. He will destroy the evil and establish a New Order. While the Galactic phenomena are amenable to scientific reasoning, the appearance of a Messaiah is a matter of individual faith. Between the two extremes lie the strange behaviours and incidents that defy logic. But Science and Religion are not separate, claims the author; they are the two poles of a Spectrum; and the Twain shall meet on the Day of Judgment…

The year is 1813. From the turbulence of Europe, ravaged by Napoleon’s rampaging armies, to the seething cauldron of India, comes a lad, Joseph McLeod, twenty years of age, newly recruited in the East India Company’s Bengal Army. While still in London, he comes across an exotically beautiful girl, Isabella Hamilton, the scion of a well-known aristocratic family, and is attracted to her. Later, two attempts are made on her life, in one of which, her parents are fatally wounded. On his deathbed, her father reveals a shocking secret from Isabella’s past concerning her parentage and a valuable estate in India. Later, while rummaging through the attic of her house, among her childhood bric-a-brac, she comes across an ivory piece with a silver chain, which she takes to be an amulet. But is it really an amulet? Or is it some device that is beyond the conception of western science, a thing so devastatingly powerful that it boggles the mind? Who are the people after her life? And why do they want her dead? The answers to these questions could only be found in India. And on those answers, and their subsequent follow-up, depends her future, fortune, and her life.