Andrijanić Ivan: Indija - povijest i kultura

India - history and culture

INDIA – HISTORY AND CULTURE IS THE FIRST COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF INDIA IN THE CROATIAN LANGUAGE BY A CROATIAN AUTHOR. 

WITH IVAN ANDRIJANIĆ'S LUXURIOUSLY ILLUSTRATED MONOGRAPH, THE STUDY OF INDOLOGY GOT ONE OF THE FUNDAMENTAL UNIVERSITY TEXTBOOKS IN THE CROATIAN LANGUAGE, AND CROATIAN SCIENCE AND CULTURE A WELL-BASED HANDBOOK FOR THE HISTORY AND CULTURE OF THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT

Publishing a comprehensive and reliable history of the Indian subcontinent in the Croatian language is an important cultural event for university studies, science and culture in Croatia, where there is great interest in Asian traditions. - Academician Mislav Ježić

A large part of the monograph is dedicated to the presentation of cultural phenomena of the Indian subcontinent - literature, religion and art, as well as cultural influences and permeations. - associate professor Ph.D. Tomislav Galović

In the richly illustrated scientific monograph India – History and Culture Ivan Andrijanić presents a complete history of the Indian subcontinent (or South Asia) from the earliest days to the present day. 

Writing the history of a place as far away as India cannot only include an overview of political history, but it is necessary to introduce the reader to the cultural context, in order to better understand the political events. This is precisely why political history is intertwined with cultural history, especially the history of literature and philosophy. The history of Indian fine arts occupies a special place in the monograph. On the other hand, the author also deals with military and economic history and the history of social institutions that are particularly important for India, where the specific institution of class-organized social communities (caste) developed. At the end of each chapter there is an exhaustive list of recommended literature as a source for additional knowledge and expanding knowledge. 

Ivan Andrijanić's monograph and university textbook India – History and Culture is lavishly equipped with more than a thousand photographs of architectural and artistic monuments by Dušan Kveder, Yugoslav ambassador to India from 1958 to 1962. 

In addition to these valuable, artistic photographs, the book's artwork features the author's illustrations, drawings (portraits of Gandhi, Nehru and other prominent figures from Indian history and drawings of some sculptural monuments) and watercolors from India. Namely, in addition to being a professor of Indology at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Zagreb, Ivan Andrijanić is also an academic painter who graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. 

India – History and Culture is the first comprehensive history of India in the Croatian language written by a Croatian author. The publication of the first comprehensive synthesis of Indian history, based on historical sources and contemporary literature and enriched by the author's judgments of Ivan Andrijanić, is a first-class cultural event. This monograph enriches the cultural horizon of Croatian society, where there is great interest in Asian traditions. Although the book is intended as a university textbook, it is written to be accessible to any reader interested in Indian history and in better understanding and contextualizing the role of contemporary India. 

The monograph India – History and Culture will also serve to sensitize the Croatian public to contemporary phenomena in the East, where India is rapidly emerging as an increasingly important economic and political power. It is extremely important for our science and culture to show that there are experts in this segment in Croatia, as well as readers with broad enough horizons to participate in such world trends themselves. 

Reviews 
In this book, Ivan Andrijanić has shown himself to be an Indologist with a broad education, a responsible university teacher of Indian history and a precise scientist. He also showed himself to be an expert committed to his scientific and cultural task of teaching and spreading knowledge from his profession and with students and the wider cultural public. The publication of the monograph India – History and Culture in the Croatian language is a very valuable contribution to university studies, science and culture in Croatia. The first such historical review in a cultural environment is also an important cultural event. In this way, the study of Indology received another of the basic textbooks in the Croatian language, and Croatian science and culture received a well-founded manual for the history and culture of the Indian subcontinent - academician Mislav Ježić. 

»The monograph India – History and Culture, in addition to being a chronological overview of the history of the Indian subcontinent (or South Asia), is largely designed as an introduction to the understanding of the phenomenon of contemporary India, its economic and political growth. A large part of the book is devoted to the presentation of cultural phenomena of the Indian subcontinent: literature, religion, art, and cultural influences and permeations. The author's concept is somewhat specific also because he presents the history of the Indian subcontinent based on the cultural context in which the events took place. It is particularly worth noting the exhaustive presentation of the cultural and economic ties between Croatia and India in the appendix to the book," notes the reviewer of the book, associate professor. Ph.D. Tomislav Galović.