Unearthing cosmopolitanism

HYDERABAD: Representing an alternative view on cosmopolitanism and modernity through the lives and experiences of "six figures who were extremely important in their own times" is what Sachidananda Mohanty's book, Cosmopolitan Modernity in the Early 20th Century, sets out to achieve.
Released in the city on Day 2 of the Hyderabad Literary Festival, the book looks at these concepts through the prism of individuals such as Rabindranath Tagore, Ananda Coomaraswamy, Sri Aurobindo, Mirra Alfassa, James Counsins, Paul Richard, Dilip Kumar Roy and Taraknath Das."The book does not aim to begin a revivalist movement but instead talks about usable tradition. It deals with the insights that these figures, who have been completely forgotten today, provide us that can help us negotiate with the hegemonic west," said Mohanty, a professor of English at the University of Hyderabad.
Releasing the book, renowned literary figure Shankar Melkote called it the "result of archival research and deep scholarship of a prolific writer of great distinction". "While the words cosmopolitan and modernity are familiar to me, the content of the book were a revelation. The book looks at how cosmopolitanism took a fascinating trajectory in the late 19th and early 20th century," Melkote said.
Another book that was launched as part of the event was Vikram Thummala's Happiness Sutra: Be the Witness. "Needless to say, the book is about happiness. But it isn't about the conditional happiness that we seek in our everyday lives, it talks about unconditional happiness - about introspection and self-discovery," the IPS officer-tuned-author from Hyderabad said.