Reviews of the latest books from and on Southasia

Eloquence in Stone: The lithic saga of Sri Lanka
by Nihal Fernando & SinhaRajah Tammita-Delgoda
Studio Times, 2009

Sri Lanka's sheer diversity has proven a rich vein for coffee-table books. The maestro of the genre, veteran photographer Nihal Fernando, has, since 1963, guided the renowned Studio Times, accumulated thousands of historical images and published multiple volumes, of which this new work is the most ambitious. Fernando devotes this book to the human-embellished stone visible throughout Sri Lanka – the country's 'lithic saga' – in conjunction with five other photographers and text co-written with the historical author SinhaRajah Tammita-Delgoda.

The chapters cover the eras in the country's stone heritage in chronological fashion, starting with the Stone Age itself, when caves were home to Balangoda Man, who left stone implements and wall paintings. The arrival from India of Vijaya, the legendary first king, saw the appearance of stone representations and burial chambers. But it was the introduction of Buddhism and the subsequent establishment of stone-wrought Anuradhapura as one of the greatest ancient cities that brought lithic invention to its zenith. After the decline of Anuradhapura, stone magnificence reoccurred at Polonnaruwa, exemplified by the four colossal Buddha statues at Gal Vihara. But Indian invasions forced lithic art into retreat, before it made a final appearance in Kandy.

The fusion of contrasting styles in Eloquence in Stone provides a spectacular exposition of the island's eloquence in stone in its multiple forms. This hefty slab of a book is worth more than its weight in gold as a repository for the future, and is probably the nearest in excellence to the unsurpassable Island Ceylon (1970), by the hallowed Canadian photographer Roloff Beny. (Richard Boyle)

Tiger Hills
by Sarita Mandanna
Viking, 2010

Mandanna raises important issues – homosexuality and the status of women in a closed society, and the outcome of rape for the perpetrator and survivor, for instance – but stubbornly refuses to deal with them in any meaningful manner. She quickly loses control of the plot and characters, both of which meander into unnecessarily dramatised sub-plots without adding anything to the story.

The character of Devanna – the rapist, and the victim's childhood friend – is being let off the hook, by being portrayed as someone who is 'not so bad after all'. Almost 450 pages into the story, no closure is provided to the victim, Devi, except that she learns about the harassment and sexual abuse that Devanna suffered in college. This she takes as a justification of sorts for his crime against her, begins to 'let go of the bitterness' that 'poisons' her soul and forgives him ('he has suffered too!').

The very next (and mercifully last) chapter apparently plays on some notion of 'good karma' that Devi's decision generates; and her son (conceived as a result of rape), whom everyone had given up for dead, suddenly rears his head again and decides to go home. Readers interested in a quick peek into 19th-century Coorg (in Karnataka) will not be completely disappointed, though, and Mandanna might be forgiven for the superficiality of this, her debut novel. (Urooj Zia)

The Lost River: On the trail of the Sarasvati
By Michel Danino
Penguin, 2010

On the hunt of a dead river – one that may or may not have existed – Danino wades through the works of the hundreds who have come before him to answer a historic trilogy of questions: Did the fabled Sarasvati River exist? If so, where did it run? And why did it disappear? As a scholar of religions with a longstanding connection with the Subcontinent, Danino, a Frenchman, knows full well what the Vedas said about the waterway – that it existed, most importantly, and that it was found somewhere in the area between the Sutlej and Yamuna rivers, before it dried up rather suddenly and mysteriously. Such tales seem to have been corroborated by Harappan ruins found along parts of what is thought to have been the old riverbed, in what would have otherwise been largely unliveable desert. Thereafter, however, the story is overtaken by local myth, colonial-era crackpottery and competing archaeological theory, all braiding out like the satellite images of waterways that Danino is overly keen to show.

The author's attempt is to bring together all of this material – the ancient, the middle and, especially, the new science – and synthesise it down into a definitive answer. To his credit, perhaps, he does so; though it is very dry going much of the way. Meanwhile, what seems to get marginalised in the push towards finding an answer is the possibility of a more ruminative exploration of the process of trying to confirm the existence of semi-mythical geography in the first place. A rationale for this unfortunate focus might be found in Danino's longtime association with members of the Hindu far right, who have long been obsessed with offering modern, scientific 'proof' for elements of Hindu myth. (Carey L Biron)

Images of Afghanistan: Exploring Afghan culture through art and literature
edited by Arley Loewen and Josette McMichael
OUP Pakistan, 2010

For too long, the image of Afghanistan in the public mind has been defined by the agenda of the US-led 'war on terror' – a barbaric land, torn apart by poverty, fundamentalism, 'terrorism' and endless conflict. The only mainstream alternative portrayal of Afghanistan has been in the tearjerkers of Khalid Hosseini, such as The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns. But even these only reinforce the stereotypical views of Afghanistan as a land in which all hope has been lost.

Coming as a breath of fresh air, and a welcome corrective, is this new work. A doorway into the rich artistic and literary heritage of the country, the collection offers glimpses of literature and poetry, fine art, calligraphy, film, music and archaeology, among other artistic endeavours. Ideal to dip into at random, there is also an entertaining section on Mullah Nasruddin, the mythical idiot-savant who is a common heritage of the whole of Central Asia. (Vidyadhar Gadgil)