The Great Indian Rope Trick

Explores one of the most successful hoaxes of all time from the mystical East, and why people were so easily fooled.

‘In the mythical Indian rope trick, the rope stands straight up. Onlookers know, however, that the rope is staying up because the fakir wills it to stay up. India’s democracy is much the same. Some observers have found it hard to see how it could support itself, and many have expected it to fall. But it will stand if Indians want it to, and use their collective will to give it strength.’ When India shook off the chains of colonial rule in 1947, predictions abounded on how long it would take for the world’s largest democracy to fall apart. The new nation appeared to be too large and too diverse to be held together by a powerful centre, and some argued that it was an artificial creation that would soon break apart at the seams. Yet, more than 60 years and 16 general elections later, and through conflict, poverty, wars, famines, natural disasters, communal riots and separatist movements, nothing has stopped the Indian juggernaut from rolling on. Amid the chaos of 800 million voters and more than 8,000 candidates, the 2014 mandate marked yet another turn in India’s continuing tryst with democracy. What has kept the Indian system of governance ticking even as its neighbours have either become autocratic states or descended into dysfunctionality? How has India proved to the world that democracy may find its best home in the seemingly infinite mass that is the Indian population? In this testament to the resilience and indomitability of the Indian state, Roderick Matthews, bestselling author of Jinnah vs Gandhi, peels back layers to unveil a story that goes to the heart of this success. In exploring what it has taken for the country to overcome challenges, both external and internal, and drawing comparisons with the recent histories of India’s neighbours, Matthews argues that India’s constitutional foundations have allowed the nation to become the bedrock of democracy in the modern world.'

India's association with magicians goes back thousands of years. Conjurors and illusionists dazzled the courts of Hindu maharajas and Mughal emperors. As British dominion spread over the subcontinent, such wonder-workers became synonymous with India. Western magicians appropriated Indian attire, tricks and stage names; switching their turbans for top hats, Indian jugglers fought back and earned their grudging respect. This book tells the extraordinary story of how Indian magic descended from the realm of the gods to become part of daily ritual and popular entertainment across the globe. Recounting tales of levitating Brahmins, resurrections, prophesying monkeys and "the most famous trick never performed," Empire of Enchantment vividly charts Indian magic's epic journey from street to the stage. This heavily illustrated book tells the extraordinary, untold story of how Indian magic descended from the realm of the gods to become part of daily ritual and popular entertainment across the globe. Drawing on ancient religious texts, early travelers' accounts, colonial records, modern visual sources, and magicians' own testimony, Empire of Enchantment is a vibrant narrative of India's magical traditions, from Vedic times to the present day.

The magician shrieked, 'Someone has cut the rope! What will my boy do now?' A minute later, down came the boy's head. It bounced on the ground, like a coconut. This was followed by the boy's arms, legs and body, all falling to the ground one after another. India is a land of many myths. Curiosity abounds in every corner, and at every turn, there's some sprinkling of mystery. Soothsayers with their prophecies and wise men with their wisdom co-exist with swindlers with their stratagems and conjurers with their charms, weaving illusions to appear as powerful as the many gods that this land worships. In The Great Indian Rope Trick, Ruskin Bond puts together a selection of stories that capture both the magical and the mundane. Witness peripatetic men casting their spells, know the legends of Binsar, or just rush off with Rusty into the arms of freedom. A world of wonder awaits.

Colette Bryce's The Heel of Bernadette was one of the most highly praised new collections of recent years, winning both the Aldeburgh Prize for best first collection, and the Strong Award for best new Irish poet. Her second, The Full Indian Rope Trick – the title poem already the winner of the 2003 National Poetry Competition – sees a leap forward in confidence and range, with Bryce's dark lyric and darker wit finding many different voices. Whatever subject the poet takes – an Ulster childhood and the child's growing awareness of her divided community, the surreal life of the natural world, or the more disturbing shadows thrown by our love and desire – it is always addressed with both a compelling emotional candour and an astonishingly musical intelligence. Pillar Talk That magician/who stationed himself on a pillar/over Manhattan/for thirty-five hours/knows nothing whatever/of loneliness/or how it is/for people like us/who have no soft acre/of cardboard boxes/not even the eggshell/flashbulbs of the press/or the well-meant antics/of neighbours with a mattress/to temper the thought/of the hard, hard earth,/to break the fall./Nothing at all.

India’s association with magic goes back thousands of years – from the seals of Mohenjodaro that depicted sorcerers and yogis, to the jugglers and acrobats that dazzled spectators at the courts of Hindu maharajas and Mughal emperors. Tales were told of ropes being thrown up in the air, strong enough for a boy to climb; of fakirs being buried alive for months and brought back to life; and of sanperas charming deadly cobras with their flutes. In the early nineteenth century, touring Indian magicians mesmerized audiences abroad, prompting generations of Western illusionists to emulate them. Jadoowallahs, Jugglers and Jinns: A Magical History of India tells the story of how Indian magic descended from the domain of the gods to become part of daily ritual and popular entertainment, and its transformation from the street to the stage culminating with the rise of the great P. C. Sorcar Sr. Drawing on ancient religious texts, colonial records, newspaper reports, journals and memoirs of Western and Indian magicians, John Zubrzycki offers us a vibrant narrative on Indian magic from ancient times to the present day.

"The author challenges what many of today's social and political philosophers widely accept: that social injustice is identified with inequality and social justice with equality. Rather, Jasay argues that justice preempts so-called social justice, so any attempt to adorn equality in the robes of social justice is an illusion, a sleight of hand, 'much as the Indian rope in the notorious trick is made to stand up skyward on its own.' The fifteen articles in this collection include both published and unpublished papers written over the years 2008 to 2012."--from publisher description.

Collected together in one ebook: every single one of Rudy Rucker's science-fiction stories, a trove of gnarl and wonder, dating over more than forty years. This, the updated 2021 edition of Complete Stories, includes stories from 1976 through 2021 Along with Rucker's solo stories, we have collaborations with Bruce Sterling, Marc Laidlaw, Paul Di Filippo, John Shirley, Terry Bisson, and Eileen Gunn.