This unique work is an annotated collection and collation of Western writing on Indian dance from the period of Marco Polo's travels to India to the formulation of the anti-devadasi bill in 1930, and a little beyond. The book reproduces more than 250 extracts from important texts, which provide examples of how dance in India was perceived as an art, as well its position in the broader cultural, religious, social, and ethical environment. Though some excerpts from these texts are cited in other writings on Indian dance history, there is no other available work that reproduces such a large number of historical writings on Indian dance and places them in a fluid historical context.

The book is a wide-ranging collection of essays on Indian classical dance, which include writings on dance appreciation, the criticism, theory and philosophy of dance, as well as some historical and light controversial articles. Also included is a seminal and unique monograph on the contribution of Sanjukta Panigrahi to the development of Odissi. The book approaches the subject from an internationalist point of view and opens up new possibilities for the appreciation of Indian dance in the context of a global intercultural critique. In addition, it is beautifully illustrated with a number of photographs captured by Arun Kumar. It will enrich and provide new ways of understanding for classical Indian dance, both for the dance community and for the general reader.

This first-ever series of in-depth dialogues with Samdhong Rinpoche, the current Prime Minister of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, presents his refreshing views on a wide range of pressing topics including the problems of the present political world order, the philosophy of "non-violence" (Ahimsa) and "truth-insistence" (Satyagraha) and the plight of Tibet in the face of the communist Chinese invasion. Informed throughout by his deep belief in the principles of Tibetan Buddhism, "Samdhong Rinpoche" holds to an uncompromising vision of the Truth - the way the world could be if it renounced its destructive path of unprincipled pragmatism and worldly compromise. Venerable Professor Samdhong Rinpoche was born in 1939 in the Tibetan province of Kham. At the age of five he was recognised and enthroned as the reincarnation of the fourth Samdhong Rinpoche. In 1959 he fled to India to escape the repressive Chinese government in Tibet. There he was commissioned by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to serve as a teacher to monks in exile. In 2001, Rinpoche was named Prime Minister of the Tibetan Exile Government, the first political leader to be directly elected by the people in exile. "Rinpoche is a great scholar, with a deep and vast understanding of Buddhist philosophy, both Sutra and Tantra; not only a scholar but a great practitioner, living in the meaning." - Lama Zopa Rinpoche, one of the world's most beloved Tibetan teachers. This book includes a foreword by His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama.