Articles by G P Deshpande

Expanse of Provincial History Intersections: Socio-Cultural Trends in Maharashtra edited by Meera Kosambi; Orient Longman, Hyderabad, 2000;
G P DESHPANDE The book under review is a part of a series of publications which bring together papers presented at various conferences on the history and culture of Maharashtra. These conferences have been a major get-together of some very fine minds working on mostly modern Maharashtra. The first such conference took place in Toronto in March 1984. The conferences have been followed by publications (in book form) of the papers presented there. This is the third such collection that the present reviewer is writing about. The conference in Toronto was followed by similar exercises in Pune (twice), Heidelberg, the State University of Arizona, Mumbai, Moscow and Sydney. Although it is not expressly stated in the book, the papers collected in this volume were presented at the Mumbai conference as the editor was one of the two conveners of that meeting.

While there is the classical tradition in Sanskrit and Pali which is fairly well recognised, the world of Indian philosophy is not and cannot be restricted to the Sanskrit and Prakrit traditions. This essay is an attempt to underline a few concerns - not necessarily central from everybody's perspective - which have dominated Marathi thought for well over a century.

The Agra summit had its share of word-play which would have delighted a Panini's or Hegel's heart.

Man's achievement, a line in Mahabharata says, cannot be greater than destiny. With a writer such as P L Deshpande, most Maharashtrians would argue, one sees an achievement larger than destiny.