• Comprehensive study of the St. Thomas in India myth with reference to Christian iconoclasm in South India from the 7th century till today. • Reviews and related material for this book can be accessed on the Acta Indica website at https://ishwarsharan.com/. • The copyright © of this book belongs to Voice of India, 2/18 Ansari Road, New Delhi 110002. The Creative Commons licence for this book is Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND).

Though proportionally small, India's Christians are a populous and significant minority. Focussing on various Roman Catholic churches and shrines located in Chennai, a large city in South India where activities concerning saintal revival and shrinal development have taken place in the recent past, this book investigates the phenomenon of Catholic renewal in India. The author tracks the changing local significance of St. Thomas the Apostle, who according to local legend, was martyred and buried in Chennai and details the efforts of the Church hierarchy in Chennai to bring about a revival of devotion to St. Thomas. Insodoing, the book considers Indian Catholic identity, Indian Christian indigeneity and Hindu nationalism, as well as the marketing of St. Thomas and Catholicism within South India.

Illustrations: 20 B/w Illustrations and 8 Maps Description: Book: The Aryans: Myth And Archaeology The Aryan problem is probably the most controversial in human history. Numerous scholars have attempted to trace the homeland of Vedic Aryans but no solutions is in sight in spite of the vast mass of literature. However, archaeological evidence of great significance has recently become available which throws a flood of light on the problem as it corroborates to a considerable extent the literary testimony and is even supported by that of the human skeletal biology. It has therefore become possible to locate the original homeland of the Aryan, the period of their migrations, the data of the composition of Rgveda, the flowering of the Vedic culture and finally their diaspora in different directions, not only in India but beyond its frontiers. The study thus represents a unique blend of the archaeological, literary and anthropological evidence. About Author : M.K. Dhavalikar was formerly Professor of Archaeology and Director, Deccan College Post-Graduate Research Institute, Pune. He has carried out several excavations in different parts of the country and his publications include: Cultural Imperialism: Indus Civilization in Western India (1994), Indian Protohistory (1997), Historical Archaeology of India (1999), Environment and Culture: A Historical Perspective (2002), and Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology, Vol. III (in press), besides excavation reports. Contents : List of Figures Preface Abbreviations Elusive Aryans Culture of the Rgveda Archaeological Traces of the Aryans Ancestros of Vedic Aryans Aryan Diaspora Bibliography Index The Aryan problem is probably the most controversial in human history. Numerous scholars have attempted to trace the homeland of Vedic Aryans but no solutions is in sight in spite of the vast mass of literature. However, archaeological evidence of great significance has recently become available which throws a flood of light on the problem as it corroborates to a considerable extent the literary testimony and is even supported by that of the human skeletal biology. It has therefore become possible to locate the original homeland of the Aryan, the period of their migrations, the data of the composition of Rgveda, the flowering of the Vedic culture and finally their diaspora in different directions, not only in India but beyond its frontiers. The study thus represents a unique blend of the archaeological, literary and anthropological evidence. About Author : M.K. Dhavalikar was formerly Professor of Archaeology and Director, Deccan College Post-Graduate Research Institute, Pune. He has carried out several excavations in different parts of the country and his publications include: Cultural Imperialism: Indus Civilization in Western India (1994), Indian Protohistory (1997), Historical Archaeology of India (1999), Environment and Culture: A Historical Perspective (2002), and Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology, Vol. III (in press), besides excavation reports. Contents : List of Figures Preface Abbreviations Elusive Aryans Culture of the Rgveda Archaeological Traces of the Aryans Ancestros of Vedic Aryans Aryan Diaspora Bibliography Index

This superb volume provides the first genuinely global one-volume history of the rise and development of the Christian faith. An international team of specialists takes seriously the geographical diversity of the Christian story, discussing the impact of Christianity not only in the West but also in Latin America, Africa, India, the Orient and Australasia.