Ayurveda is an Asian medical system which has its beginnings in India during approximately the sixth century BC and thrives even to the present day. Medical ideas underpin a great deal of Eastern thought especially Tantrism, alchemy, yoga and the science of love. This book is not intended as a series of health tips or as a textbook for the clinical practice of medicine, which in the Ayurveda tradition requires at least seven years intensive training. The book is aimed at students and lovers of South Asian culture, perhaps also anthropologists and others with a need for a straightforward...

Trapped in the unease of twenty first century, musing on real, past experiences to piece together the fragments and find some solace and humour today.

On India's south-western or Malabar coast is situated an ancient Hindu temple devoted to the famous god Shiva and his consort the fearsome Kali. But an earlier dedication was to the Buddhist/Jaina goddess Pattini, whose mortal husband was tried and killed in a series of brutal events still commemorated in the temple's ritual year. And before this the story gets even stranger, as there are said to be the remains of a secret, underground shrine, the home to a mystery cult dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis. Greek, Roman & Near Eastern merchants travelled to India after a regular, if epic,...