Amazon.com Widgets Brazil has always been a country of contrasts: idyllic and diabolical, happy yet sombre, rustic and urbane, populated by the white and mixed races. Recently two Brazilian academics, anthropologist Lilia Moritz Schwarcz and historian Heloisa Murgel Starling have published a ‘biography’ of Brazil (Brasil: uma biographia) which provides a linear narrative of the history of the country. It is a kaleidoscopic biography...

Tarachand Chakraborty (c. 1806-57) was one of the leaders of ‘Young Bengal’. He was a brilliant student of the Hindu College and a scholar of English. In 1822 he was engaged to assist Raja Rammohun Ray for his work in the Calcutta Journal of translating from the Chandrika and the Koumudi. Tarachand also actively helped Wilson for the English translations of Sanskrit literary works. He was the Headmaster of David Hare’s...

Bishnupur is a sub-divisional town of Bankura district in the state of West Bengal, India. The main soil of this region has been derived from laterite rocks with intermittent alluvial deposits. In the early stages of the British rule, this region was known as the Jungal Mahal. The main town of the sub-division is Bishnupur which is situated (23°5 N and 87°20 East) five km to the south of the river Dwarakeshwar. Bishnupur Municipality was...