Manohar Publishers and Distributors: 10/03/12

03 October, 2012

From Heroines to Beneficiaries: From Beneficiaries to Heroines?: The Impact of a Small-Scale Irrigation Project on Gender in West-Bengal Terai

By- Loes Schenk-Sandbergen and Niren Choudhury

The impact study in this book shows that an ‘old-fashioned’ bi-lateral (between the Indian and Dutch Government) small scale irrigation project, namely the North Bengal Terai Project, has been very successful in its Phase II. What is more important is that the impact study shows that the project contributed to the empowerment of women of marginal and small farmers’ households. The instalment of simple handpumps has improved the income and health of families and has relieved the women of household drudgery. An increase in decision-making power of women in household- and agricultural matters has been found. The accomplishments have been achieved without any involvement of (women’s) NGOs. the underlying wisdom of the success of the project is embedded in the historical context of the farm households in the project area and the autonomy, political ideology and hish gender and social awareness of the implementing government staff.

Loes Schenk-Schenk-Sandbergen is an Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Section South- and Southeast-Asia of the University of Amsterdam, where she obtained her Ph.D. in Social Science in 1975. She has published extensively or gender issues, linking them with povert and the process of empowerment. Besides, she is a consultant, in particular in gender (women) and empowerment. She did substantial anthropological research, and impact- and evaluation studies in India, Laos, Vietnam, China, Philippines and Bangladesh. Besides writing numerous articles, manuals and project reports she is the author of several books.

Niren C. Choudhury is a retired Professor in Anthropology and Rural Development of the University of North Bengal, Darjeeling. He has served many years as the director of the Anthropological Survey of West Bengal (Calcutta) of the Government of India.

ISBN 81-7304-423-6 2003 318p. Rs.625/Pounds 50

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Essays on Jaina Art

By- Ananda K. Coomaraswamy

With an introduction by Richard J. Cohen

Fifteenth in the series of Collected Works of Dr. Ananda Coomaraswamy in the IGNCA’s publication programme, this volume deals with his contribution to the study of Jaina Art.

His writings on Jaina art span the entire period of his active working life as an art historian. He published his first article on the subject in 1914, and ended with a book review in 1943, four years before his death. Jaina art and its symbolic inventory held a special place in Coomaraswamy’s formulation of the history of Indian painting, indeed Indian civilization itself. He was the first to recognize its chronological place in the succession of style. The Jaina paintings are not only important for the student of Jaina iconography and archaeology which are illustrative of costumes, manners and customs, but are of greater interest because they are the oldest Indian paintings on paper, representing an almost unknown school of Indian art.

Holding the view that in order to make these paintings fully comprehensivible, a short account of Jainism and of the legends of Mahavira and Kalakacharya, which are the main subject of the paintings is given in this volume. The chapters that follow deal with the explanation of various terms; Jaina cosmology; aesthetics and relationships of Jaina painting; the illustrated Jaina manuscripts; description of the figures; followed by a large number of illustrations.

Dr. Richard J. Cohen, an eminent American Indologist, has edited the book painstakingly, consulting not only the author’s authentic corrections, but also all the material available in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Library of the University of Pennsylvania. It is hoped that Coomaraswamy’s seminal and profound contribution to the study of Indian painting will benefit not only art historians, but also artists.

Dr. Richard J. Cohen, an eminent American Indologist, was Asstt. Director, South Asia Regional Studies, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. He has visited India in connection with his research work on a few occasions. He was appointed Executive Director, Indo-American Centre for International Studies, Hyderabad, in 2000. In 2001, he returned to the States and for some time worked in the University of Cornell, Ithaca, New York. At present, he is Associate Director, Asian Studies Centre, University of Pittsburg, Pittsburg, USA.

ISBN 81-7304-534-8 2003 188p. Rs.1450/Pounds 55