Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India - Hardcover

Dalrymple, William

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0307272826 ISBN 13: 9780307272829

Publisher: Alfred a Knopf Inc, 2010

Synopsis

From the author of The Last Mughal (“A compulsively readable masterpiece” —The New York Review of Books), an exquisite, mesmerizing book that illuminates the remarkable ways in which traditional forms of religious life in India have been transformed in the vortex of the region’s rapid change—a book that distills the author’s twenty-five years of travel in India, taking us deep into ways of life that we might otherwise never have known exist.

A Buddhist monk takes up arms to resist the Chinese invasion of Tibet—and spends the rest of his life atoning for the violence by hand printing the finest prayer flags in India . . . A Jain nun tests her powers of detachment as she watches her closest friend ritually starve herself to death . . . A woman leaves her middle-class life in Calcutta and finds unexpected fulfillment living as a Tantric in an isolated, skull-filled cremation ground . . . A prison warder from Kerala is worshipped as an incarnate deity for three months of every year . . . An idol carver, the twenty-third in a long line of sculptors, must reconcile himself to his son’s desire to study computer engineering . . . An illiterate goatherd from Rajasthan keeps alive in his memory an ancient four-thousand-stanza sacred epic . . . A temple prostitute, who initially resisted her own initiation into sex work, pushes both her daughters into a trade she nonetheless regards as a sacred calling.

William Dalrymple chronicles these lives with expansive insight and a spellbinding evocation of circumstance. And while the stories reveal the vigorous resilience of individuals in the face of the relentless onslaught of modernity, they reveal as well the continuity of ancient traditions that endure to this day. A dazzling travelogue of both place and spirit.

About this title

Review:

"A singular achievement. . . . A deeply respectful and sympathetic portrait of those modest souls seldom mentioned in the headlines." Pico Iyer, "Time
"
"Not only a masterful text, but also an extaordinarily important work." "San Francisco Chronicle"
"Fascinating and sometimes painfully moving. . . . This is the India we seldom see, peopled by obscure people whose lives are made vivid by their eloquent troubles and reckless piety." "The New York Times Book Review
""[This is] the age for writers like Mr. Dalrymple, who fall in with the rhythms and languages of foreign lands. Nine Lives shows us lives hidden almost entirely from Western readers. . . opening up the world in a compelling way." "Wall Street Journal
"
Informed, compassionate, and careful to place the emphasis where it belongs: on the extraordinary people whose stories [Dalrymple] conveys. "Harper s"
""
Strikingly colorful. . . . [Dalrymple s] point which he makes elegantly by quoting many voices is that, as India hurtles toward modernity, it may be losing some of its soul. "The Washington Post"
""
Luminous. . . . Consists of nine riveting and thickly reported tales of individual devotion, which together summon up a whole world and sometimes end with devastating twists. . . . Nine Lives will only enhance [Dalrymple s] reputation. "The New Republic"
Fulfills the premise that a master artist can make something very difficult look easy. . . . You don t have to know a thing about India to enjoy this book, but when you re done you will know and appreciate much more about its people and their various lives of the body, of the spirit and of the heart. "The Seattle Times"
""
Fascinating. . . . These might seem like exotic characters, but Dalrymple allows them to tell their own stories, and they emerge as deeply sympathetic and human. "Newsday"
""
Triumphant. . . . Not only illuminates India s relationship with religion but casts the genre itself in a new light. . . . A wise and rewarding book fizzing with Dalrymple s signature erudition and lightness of touch. . . . The travel book of the year. "The Guardian "(London)
An absolutely beautiful book, clean and honest and edifying and moving. . . . It s a delight. Elizabeth Gilbert, author of "Eat, Pray, Love"
A wonderful pageant of believers whose stories are as much about spirituality as about society. "Christian Science Monitor"
""
Moving. . . His nine articulate individuals are from highly distinctive and unusual milieus, and they embody the tensions and ideals of the great Indian systems of belief in personal, often painful ways. Taken together, they easily subvert conventional notions about Indian religiosity and provide an excellent antidote to much of what one reads in English about Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam. "New York Review of Books"
""
Not since Kipling has anyone evoked village India so movingly. . . . The book gives an answer to Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins and those who would condemn all religions for the sake of the fanatical fringe. Wendy Doniger, "Times Literary Supplement"
""
Straightforward reporting, clear writing and empathetic listening. "The Plain Dealer"
""
An absorbing book. . . . Dalrymple is a lively, knowledgeable and sympathetic guide to this world of faith. "The Daily Telegraph"
""
Exquisite. . . . William Dalrymple dazzles us with stories of how a deeper reality strokes the fire of life in the recesses of our souls. . . . By peering into the secret passages of their psyches, we learn more about our own self, our fantasies, our shadows, our longings, our hidden potential. Deepak Chopra"

"A singular achievement. . . . A deeply respectful and sympathetic portrait of those modest souls seldom mentioned in the headlines." Pico Iyer, Time

"Not only a masterful text, but also an extaordinarily important work." San Francisco Chronicle
"Fascinating and sometimes painfully moving. . . . This is the India we seldom see, peopled by obscure people whose lives are made vivid by their eloquent troubles and reckless piety." The New York Times Book Review
"[This is] the age for writers like Mr. Dalrymple, who fall in with the rhythms and languages of foreign lands. Nine Lives shows us lives hidden almost entirely from Western readers. . . opening up the world in a compelling way." Wall Street Journal

Informed, compassionate, and careful to place the emphasis where it belongs: on the extraordinary people whose stories [Dalrymple] conveys. Harper s

Strikingly colorful. . . . [Dalrymple s] point which he makes elegantly by quoting many voices is that, as India hurtles toward modernity, it may be losing some of its soul. The Washington Post

Luminous. . . . Consists of nine riveting and thickly reported tales of individual devotion, which together summon up a whole world and sometimes end with devastating twists. . . . Nine Lives will only enhance [Dalrymple s] reputation. The New Republic
Fulfills the premise that a master artist can make something very difficult look easy. . . . You don t have to know a thing about India to enjoy this book, but when you re done you will know and appreciate much more about its people and their various lives of the body, of the spirit and of the heart. The Seattle Times

Fascinating. . . . These might seem like exotic characters, but Dalrymple allows them to tell their own stories, and they emerge as deeply sympathetic and human. Newsday

Triumphant. . . . Not only illuminates India s relationship with religion but casts the genre itself in a new light. . . . A wise and rewarding book fizzing with Dalrymple s signature erudition and lightness of touch. . . . The travel book of the year. The Guardian (London)
An absolutely beautiful book, clean and honest and edifying and moving. . . . It s a delight. Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love
A wonderful pageant of believers whose stories are as much about spirituality as about society. Christian Science Monitor

Moving. . . His nine articulate individuals are from highly distinctive and unusual milieus, and they embody the tensions and ideals of the great Indian systems of belief in personal, often painful ways. Taken together, they easily subvert conventional notions about Indian religiosity and provide an excellent antidote to much of what one reads in English about Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam. New York Review of Books

Not since Kipling has anyone evoked village India so movingly. . . . The book gives an answer to Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins and those who would condemn all religions for the sake of the fanatical fringe. Wendy Doniger, Times Literary Supplement

Straightforward reporting, clear writing and empathetic listening. The Plain Dealer

An absorbing book. . . . Dalrymple is a lively, knowledgeable and sympathetic guide to this world of faith. The Daily Telegraph

Exquisite. . . . William Dalrymple dazzles us with stories of how a deeper reality strokes the fire of life in the recesses of our souls. . . . By peering into the secret passages of their psyches, we learn more about our own self, our fantasies, our shadows, our longings, our hidden potential. Deepak Chopra

"

Book Description:

Award-winning, critically acclaimed, internationally bestselling William Dalrymple takes us to the heart of an undiscovered India

About this edition

• Publisher: Alfred a Knopf Inc
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0307272826
• ISBN 13: 9780307272829
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 275