R. K. Narayan (1906—2001) witnessed nearly a century of change in his native India and captured it in fiction of uncommon warmth and vibrancy. The title character in The English Teacher, Narayan’s most autobiographical novel, searches for meaning when the death of his young wife deprives him of his greatest source of happiness. This pioneering novel, luminous in its detail and refreshingly free of artifice, is a gift to twentieth-century literature.

**The greatest Indian epic, one of the world's supreme masterpieces of storytellingA Penguin Classic**A sweeping tale of abduction, battle, and courtship played out in a universe of deities and demons, The Ramayana is familiar to virtually every Indian. Although the Sanskrit original was composed by Valmiki around the fourth century BC, poets have produced countless versions in different languages. Here, drawing on the work of an eleventh-century poet called Kamban...

For the centennial of his birth, R. K. Narayan's most celebrated novelFormerly India's most corrupt tourist guide, Raju—just released from prison—seeks refuge in an abandoned temple. Mistaken for a holy man, he plays the part and succeeds so well that God himself intervenes to put Raju's newfound sanctity to the test. Narayan's most celebrated novel, The Guide won him the National Prize of the Indian Literary Academy, his country's highest literary honor.

Capable of acquiring large volumes of data through sensors deployed in air, land, and sea, and making this information readily available in a continuous time frame, the science of geographical information system (GIS) is rapidly evolving. This popular information system is emerging as a platform for scientific visualization, simulation, and computa

R. K. Narayan (1906—2001) witnessed nearly a century of change in his native India and captured it in fiction of uncommon warmth and vibrancy. The Bachelor of Arts is a poignant coming-of-age novel about a young man flush with first love, but whose freedom to pursue it is hindered by the fixed ideas of his traditional Hindu family. This pioneering novel, luminous in its detail and refreshingly free of artifice, is a gift to twentieth-century literature.

In the novels of R. K. Narayan (1906-2001), the forefather of modern Indian fiction, human-scale hopes and epiphanies express the promise of a nation as it awakens to its place in the world. In Waiting for the Mahatma, a young drifter meets the most beautiful girl he has ever seen–an adherent of Mahatma Gandhi–and commits himself to Gandhi’s Quit India campaign, a decision that will test the integrity of his ideals against the strength of his passions. This novel, written after In...

Four gems, with new introductions, mark acclaimed Indian writer R. K. Narayan's centennialIntroducing this collection of stories, R. K. Narayan describes how in India "the writer has only to look out of the window to pick up a character and thereby a story." Composed of powerful, magical portraits of all kinds of people, and comprising stories written over almost forty years, Malgudi Days presents Narayan's imaginary city in full color, revealing the essen...

Over the years the interpretation of scriptures has been ritualistic, divisive and worse, in the recent past, bordering on commercialization. As a result the analytical and rationale seeking modern mind has remained disinterested with the subject and reluctant to pursue the teachings contained therein. The true intent of the scriptures, on the other hand, is to help the mind tide over the ever existent turmoil within, through sensible teachings brought out in dialogues between inquisitive,...

R. K. Narayan (1906—2001) witnessed nearly a century of change in his native India and captured it in fiction of uncommon warmth and vibrancy. The four novels collected here, all written during British rule, bring colonial India into intimate focus through the narrative gifts of this master of literary realism.Swami and Friends introduces us to Narayan’s beloved fictional town of Malgudi, where ten-year-old Swaminathan’s excitement about his country’s initial stirrings for...

From Haryana to Gujarat to Maharashtra, numerous Indian states have been witness to protests by backward classes pressing for quotas and reservations. In stark contrast is the exemplary case of Tamil Nadu, which has managed to effectively integrate economic and development agenda for the backward classes into state policy. In the fifty years of rule between them, M. Karunanidhi, MGR, and J. Jayalalithaa—the iconic leaders of Tamil Nadu politics—managed to effectively transform institutions...

R. K. Narayan (1906—2001) witnessed nearly a century of change in his native India and captured it in fiction of uncommon warmth and vibrancy. Swami and Friends introduces us to Narayan’s beloved fictional town of Malgudi, where ten-year-old Swaminathan’s excitement about his country’s initial stirrings for independence competes with his ardor for cricket and all other things British. Written during British rule, this novel brings colonial India into intimate focus through the nar...

"Since the death of Evelyn Waugh, Narayan is the novelist I most admire in the English language. His autobiography is worthy of his novels." —Graham Greene"I am inclined to call this the last chapter, but how can an autobiography have a final chapter? At best, it can only be a penultimate one; nor can it be given a rounded-off conclusion, as is possible in a work of fiction." So begins the last chapter of My Days, the only memoir from R. K. Narayan, hailed...