Book folder

[acharya]

Reforms is alive, the Empire's long dead, the Cold War over, MTV all
around. Yet, 54 years after India became a Republic, our erstwhile
mai baap sarkar still plays nanny. Books banned by the Raj remain on
the banned list and many more have been added since—James Laine's on
Shivaji the latest in Maharashtra. Here's some of what you can't read
in India today. Of course, you can try to google your way out.

MANINI CHATTERJEE



We have porn.com, we can't have this

• Scented Garden (Anthropology of sex life in the Levant) by Bernhard
Stern; translated by David Berger. Banned: August 18, 1945

• Dark Urge by Robert W. Taylor. Banned: Dec 29, 1955








• The Jewel in the Lotus (A Historical Survey of the Sexual Culture
of the East). Banned: July 20, 1968

Sare Jahan Se Achha (And Let No One Tell You Any Different):

By far the largest number of banned books are in this category—books
critical of India, Indian foreign policy, or Kashmir

• The Face of Mother India by Katherine Mayo. Banned: January 18,
1936

• Old Soldier Sahib by Private Frank Richards (memoirs of a British
soldier serving in India whose book Old Soldiers Never Die has been
described as ``probably the best account of the Great War as seen
through the eyes of a private soldier.'' Banned: Aug 22, 1936

• The Heart of India by Alexander Campbell. Banned: March 11, 1959

• The Evolution of the British Empire and Commonwealth from the
American Revolution by Alfred Le Ray Burt. Banned: Aug 9, 1969

• A Struggle between Two Lines over the Question of How to Deal with
US Imperialism by Fan Asid-Chu, Foreign Languages Press, Peking,
1965. Banned: Dec 6, 1969

• Behind the Iron Curtain in Kashmir: Neutral Opinion (author not
mentioned). Banned: Aug 27, 1949

• American Military Aid to Pakistan (its full implications) by
Salahuddin Ahmad. Banned: July 31, 1954

• Captive Kashmir by Aziz Beg. Banned: April 19, 1958

• India Independent by Charles Bettelheim. Banned: May 15, 1976

Leave Our Gods Alone

• Hindu Heaven by Max Wylie. Banned: April 28, 1934

• The Land of the Lingam by Arthur Miles. Banned: Oct 2, 1937

• What Has Religion Done for Mankind, Watch-tower Bible and Tract
Society, New York. Banned: Feb 26, 1955

• The Ramayana by Aubrey Menen. Banned: Sept 29, 1956

Let Sleeping Icons Lie

James Laine's book on Shivaji is the latest in the line of books
prohibited because they take atypical view on nationalist icons.
Critical views on Nehru and offbeat takes on Gandhi's assassination
are still on the ban list.

• Nine Hours to Rama by Stanley Wolpert. Banned: Sept 1, 1962

• Nehru, A Political Biography by Michael Edwards. Banned: Dec 13,
1975

• Who Killed Gandhi by Lourenco De Sadvandor. Banned: Dec 29, 1979

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story....t_id=39862