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Indica Books

Name: Indica Books
Address: B 2/218 Bhadaini, Main Road, opp. Navadurga Mandir, Varanasi, 221001, IN
Telephone: +919336300864
Price range: ££

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Indica Books

Publishers, booksellers and distributors Indica Books is located in the centre of Varanasi, in BHU Road very near Assi Crossing.

Its showroom has one of the best selections in India of books on Indology and the classical culture of India. Indica Books publishes high quality books on these subjects. Ask for our Publications Catalogue.

15/11/2025

MIND-BODY RELATIONSHIP
IN INDIAN PHILOSOPHY

This book is an attempt to understand the mind-body relationship from the standpoint of Indian philosophy. The author exposes the topic as dealt with in traditional Indian schools of philosophy, in particular by Samkhya-Yoga schools and also by Ayurveda. He also presents the Nyaya-Vaisheshika and Vedantic perspectives, as well as the Charvaka who, like modern Western materialists, do not believe in the separate existence of the mind from the physical body. The author also presents western studies and tendencies on this subject.
The problem of the relation of mind and body is no special problem in Indian philosophy because Indian thinkers do not equate mind with the self. In Indian philosophy the word ‘mind’ is used in the sense of manas or antahkarana (internal organ) and not in the sense of atman (self). But Western thinkers differentiate mind from body on the one hand and equate mind with the self on the other hand. Some of them have advanced ‘interactionism’, where mental and bodily states interact. But if the stuff of the mind is so different from the stuff of the body, then how do they influence one another? This problem vanishes when we look at the point from the Yoga perspective. Here also there is interactionism between mind and body, but in Yoga philosophy the mind is not different from the body. Mind and body both come under the same category, as mind is subtle matter — both are transformations of prakriti. Ayurveda also believes in the reciprocal effect of mind on body and vice-versa, thereby proving the intimate relationship of mind and body.

Dr. Deo Brat Chaube is a retired professor of the Dept. of Philosophy and Religion, Banaras Hindu University.

01/08/2025

TRIPURA RAHASYA

"The Mystery of Goddess Tripura" is a treatise that presents the mythology, theories, and practices related to the goddess Tripura Sundari. It presents its teachings combining deep philosophical discourses with “puranic” stories, making it a quite readable book.
Srividya conceives of the highest reality as feminine: the goddess Rajarajeshwari or Tripura Sundari. “The most beautiful of the three cities” — meaning the three worlds (loka-s: earth, heaven and the intermediate or psychic world), the three bodies of man (physical: sthula; subtle; sukshma; causal: karana) and the three states (waking: jagrat, dream: svapna; deep sleep: sushupti). It is the Consciousness behind everything that exists, transcendental and non-dual. In this supreme Consciousness, identical to Atman, the universe is reflected like a city is reflected in a mirror.
Srividya is the most intellectual sakta initiatory path among all the Ta***ic currents; as an integral part of cognitive enquiry (jnana vicara), along with Advaita Vedanta it is also known as Brahma Vidya. The Srividya tradition is a traditional lineage that integrates Veda and Ta**ra in a particular style. This jnana khanda is presented as the essence of Vaidika, Vaishnava, Shaiva, Shakta and Pasupata knowledge.
The symbolic structure (mandala, yantra, cakra) specific to Tripura is the Sriyantra or Sricakra.
INDICA BOOKS has recently published a clear translation of this treatise.

06/07/2025

THE SARANGI

The sarangi is the main bowed instrument of Hindustani music. It has three gut melody strings that are stopped by the left-hand cuticles or the skin above the nails. Around 36 sympathetic strings give a hauntings echo. Traditionally the sarangi’s public role has been to provide melodic accompaniment for vocal music, but its players have always practised and performed solo sarangi in their homes and at musicians’ gatherings. The constraints posed by the sarangi’s unusual construction and technique have given birth to a unique instrumental manifestation of vocal music that has never before been examined in a musicological work.
Indica Books has published “Sarangi Style in Hindustani Music” by Nicolas Magriel. This is the most complete book on any Indian instrument.

This beautifully illustrated book attempts to answer these questions: What is sarangi music? In what ways does it reflect or differ from the vocal music on which it is based? In what ways do the unique features of the sarangi and its technique affect its capacity to emulate vocal music? The approach is empirical, supported by extensive sargam transcription and analysis of video-recorded music and informed by the author’s fifty years of experience as a student, performer and teacher of the sarangi and Hindustani vocal music. The discussion is supplemented by 170 online video files and 555 audio examples.

https://www.indicabooks.com/product/sarangi-style-in-hindustani-music/

06/05/2025

ONE HUNDRED POEMS OF KABIR

Kabir is well known in India. Born in Benares around 1440 of Muslim parents, he was accepted in early life as a disciple by Swami Ramananda. Ramananda had brought to Northern India the religious revival which Ramanuja, the great 12th century expositor of Vishisht¬ad¬vaita Vedanta based on bhakti, had initiated in the South.
Kabir hated religious exclusivism and decried religious hypocrisy and ritualism. He was not a religious ascetic but a weaver, who earned his living at the loom. He preached “the religion of love”, through which one discovers the omnipresent Reality, the “All-pervading”, “the breath of all breath”, within Whom “the worlds are being told like beads”.
His poems, written in a popular dialect of Hindi and addressed to the common people — which he probably sang to his disciples while working at his loom — are still very present in the India of the 21st century. Translated by Rabindranath Tagore, this book was published for the first time in London in 1915. Indica Books has published a beautiful edition of this small spiritual classic.

https://www.indicabooks.com/product/one-hundred-poems-of-kabir/

26/04/2025

THE SELF-SHINING REALITY

Indica Books has published The Self-Shining Reality: The Vedantic Method of the Three States by Swami Satchidanandendra Saraswati. This book is largely based on the Bhashya (commentary) of Shankara on the Mandukya Upanishad and the Gaudapada’s Karikas. The author has also grounded the development of his arguments in the entire commentary of Shankara on the Prasthanatraya and the works of Sureshvaracharya. The result is a text of great breadth and depth of content presented in a remarkably straightforward form. Structured in great part according to the traditional method of a dialogue between the purvapakshin, who puts forward several objections and the siddhantin who establishes the correct doctrine, this book enquires into the Reality that underlies the three states of wakefulness (jagrat), dream (svapna) and deep sleep (sushupti).
Swami Satchidanandendra Saraswati (1880-1975) was a renowned sannyasi and a restorer of the pure Advaita Vedanta tradition. Swami Prakashanandendra Saraswati, a successor of the author, has translated and improved his original book in Kannada Paramartha Cintamani.

https://www.indicabooks.com/product/the-self-shining-reality-the-vedantic-method-of-the-three-states/

10/02/2025

ANANDAMAYI

Anandamayi was a simple country girl from a remote village on the easternmost border of India who became a personality of the highest spiritual distinction. Like her great predecessor, Shankaracharya, she encompassed all castes, faiths and creeds on a journey which took her to all four extremities of the Indian subcontinent.
Drawing extensively on her own words and advice to followers, the author of the book Richard Lannoy reveals a personality at once both breathtakingly simple and an enigma of fathomless complexity. His high-speed action photography captures her essence while his text recounts her dramatic spiritual metamorphosis from youthful ecstatic to venerable sage.
Indica Books, in collaboration with Shree Shree Ma Anandamayee Archives, has published this emblematic photographic book in a new format. A Spanish edition already exist, published by Olañeta.
Richard Lannoy (1928-2016) was a renowned photographer and writer who had a special relation with India.
https://www.indicabooks.com/product/anandamayi-her-life-and-wisdom/

18/10/2024

SHASTRARTHA

Shastrartha, or debate on the meaning of shastras (scriptures) is a long tradition in Banaras or Kashi.

“This tradition of shastratha or criticism, discussions and debates on various topics has been in vogue in Kashi from very early times. Though at times it is said that debate is for the sake of debate, shastratha not only decided the capability and depth of knowledge of the two competing pandits but also found solutions to many philosophical or pedantic problems. The decision arrived at during the shastratha or the point made during a discussion session with pandits in Kashi was well accepted. What was accepted in Kashi was accepted throughout the country. Naturally the thinkers from all over the country, from Buddha and Shankara to Dayananda Sarasvati and Karpatriji, came to Kashi to place their arguments in favour of their hypotheses.
Pt. Ahobila Shastri had made a name in the South and came to Kashi in 1802 to establish his superiority among the Kashi pandits. Pt. Chandranarayan of Kashi accepted the challenge and entered into a debate. Even before the Deccan Pandit could complete his first question, Pt. Chandranarayan had given the answer. It was now the turn of the Kashi pandit to ask a question. He asked the Deccan pandit to find out the flaw in his answer. When there was no reply, he pointed out the flaw in his earlier answer. Then again he posed a second question asking the Deccan pandit to find out the flaw in the second answer. This process repeated thrice before the Deccan pandit threw up his hands and accepted defeat. Pt. Chandranarayan was prepared to continue the game of giving what seemed to be the correct answer and then pointing out the flaw in it.”

(from K. Chandramouli: “Luminous Kashi to Vibrant Varanasi”. Indica Books, 2006)

06/08/2024

VIVEKSAR

Baba Kinārām was a medieval Indian ascetic, who originated the Aghori sampradaya. He is revered to this day. The Aghori sampradaya was reformed in the 20th century by Baba Bhagwan Ram.
Viveksār, “The Essence of Discernment”, is a rare scripture composed in 1755 CE by Aghorāchārya Baba Kinārām. It was composed as a main text for the instruction of the Aghor state of being, based upon Baba Kinārām’s own personal experiences.
By reading Viveksār we can experience the subtle vibrations embodied in the words of a realized saint, penetrating to the depths of the heart. These verses can resonate inside of us in a place that lies beyond our need to under¬stand. Viveksār will ever replenish love, joy, and inspiration throughout life.
Indica Books has published Viveksār. It published previously “The Book of Aghor Wisdom” by Baba Bhagwan Ram.

30/07/2024

VEDANTA IN EUROPE

From August 8 to 11 2024, “Vedanta in Europe” or “1st European Vedanta Summit: A Meeting of Minds” will be celebrated in Gretz-Armainvilliers, at 41 kilometres from Paris. The 4-days meeting will feature 27 speakers, such as Swami Suhitananda and other renowned swamis, philosophers, scientists, researchers and artists, from both India and Europe. There will be discourses, panel discussions, a music concert, bhajan, meditation and other activities.
It is open to all.

More information in: www.centre-vedantique.fr, [email protected]

31/05/2024

MEDIEVAL SAINT-POETS

Medieval India (between the 12th and 18th centuries), under Muslim political rule, was politically turbulent and culturally undergoing many significant changes. Hinduism and Islam coexisted but were in a great part limited to rituals. India’s high philosophy laid down in the Veda and available in Sanskrit was beyond the reach of the common people.
During this age of confusion, an incredibly significant literary and spiritual development took place — the emergence of Saint-poets. In their own way, these saint-poets went on to define what is man, what is the purpose of man’s life, what is spirituality, what is the right way to lead one’s life, why should a man do his duty properly, etc. Concerning themselves with universal issues, they aimed beyond the formal religion, centering on how to reach the highest goal: God, conceived as saguna or nirguna.
The medieval Saint-poets had diverse social backgrounds. Mostly living the life of a householder, they ranged from the learned Brahmin Tulsidas to the unlettered Kabir, from the cobbler Raidas to the princess Mirabai, from the renowned Nanak to the blind Surdas.
Their poems had tremendous appeal, as they were in the popular dialects spoken and understood by even the unlettered ones. They were recited and sung by the common people, passing from generation to generation and giving a solid spiritual basis for society at large. The range and quality of the poems written or recited by the Saint-poets continues to fascinate students of literature and seekers of spirituality. Their words are still very much relevant in the modern world submerged in the mad pursuit of materialism.

INDICA BOOKS has published “The Spiritual Message of Indian Saint-Poets” by Rakesh Bhartiya.
https://www.indicabooks.com/product/the-spiritual-message-of-indian-saint-poets/

23/03/2024

TAO TE CHING IN HINDI
हिंदी भाषा में ताओ ते चिंग

Tao Te Ching is the foundational text of Taoism, which had a deep influence on Chinese thought. Indica Books has brought out the third reprint of its first Hindi translation, done by Anuradha Banerjee.

चीन के अतिप्राचीन ताओवाद सम्प्रदाय के सबसे महत्वपूर्ण एवं प्रामाणिक ग्रन्थ है, यह ताओ ते चिंग पहली बार के लिए हिंदी भाषा में प्रस्तुत किया जा रहा है।
इस ग्रन्थ में ८१ अतिशंक्षिप्त अध्यायों के द्वारा ताओवाद के संस्थापक महामनीषी लाओत्सी स्वयं तत्त्वज्ञानी होते हुए, परमतत्त्व ताओ का साक्षात्कार करने की दिशा दिखते हैं।
वर्ण्य वास्तु, प्रसन्न एवं गंभीर शैली आदि विशेषताओं को लेकर ताओ ते चिंग उपनिषदों के तुल्य कहा जा सकता है ।

Address

B 2/218 Bhadaini, Main Road, Opp. Navadurga Mandir
Varanasi
221001

Opening Hours

Monday	10am - 8pm
Tuesday	10am - 8pm
Wednesday	10am - 8pm
Thursday	10am - 8pm
Friday	10am - 8pm
Saturday	10am - 8pm

Telephone

+919336300864

Website

http://www.indicabooks.in/

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