Description: This book sets out to reflect upon one question: what is the motivation behind the transmission of knowledge and ideas in the specific cultural contexts of South Asian societies? The essays look at schools and schooling, the telling of myth, colonial information-gathering, and the spread of the 'hindutva' ideology, to give a few examples. They relate to each other in their theoretical positions, which are discussed in the editor's introduction. The essays show that elites seek to control and channel knowledge, but also manipulate the ability of people to reason and critique. The importance of the book lies in its attempt to explore common understandings of the social agenda which lie behind the transmission of knowledge in widely differing contexts. Its topicality is enhanced by current contemporary debates on education and the curriculum, and on the politicization of religious texts and beliefs.

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