Chakra Publishing House provides a forum for presenting a range of perspectives on the (East) Indian presence in the Caribbean, and the wider Indian Diaspora. It also provides a forum for presenting voice and visibility to writers who (would) have been marginalized by the mainstream press. Some of the works crusade against social injustice, exclusion, and oppression; others stimulate a sense of cultural pride in a people.The objective, generally, is to provide facts and opinions to enable readers to receive new ideas, engage in rational discussions, and make informed decisions.
Chakra fulfills the need of those who want to read about race relations and ethnicity by writers who focus on a minority group in the Caribbean. The product is a series of culturally relevant texts, reasonably priced, innovatively marketed, and well distributed. The books are sold through our website on the internet, in West Indian/Caribbean bookshops at home and abroad, and in our mobile booth at social and academic functions. The circulation of some of our (13) titles number more than 30,000 copies each which reaches individuals, colleges, libraries and organizations worldwide.
We can be contacted at:
Chakra Publishing House
10 Swami Avenue, Don Miguel Road
San Juan, Trinidad and Tobago
West Indies
Tel: (868)675-7707
Tel/fax: (868) 674-6008
Email: [email protected], [email protected]
It is without doubt that Hindi in Trinidad and Guyana has contributed scores of loan words to mainstream Caribbean English. Today, Hindi/Indic lexical items are being used regularly by calypso and chutney singers, writers, journalists, broadcasters and politicians. This illustrated dictionary represents a record and inventory of 1,212 words and calques used in everyday speech by younger Indians and older non-Indians in multi-ethnic Trinidad.
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A Silent Life is the story of the journey of the life of a girl from a village in Guyana, from the time she is a child to the stage where she is a mother of two teenage boys. Although the story is woven around four generations of Muslim characters, Shah invokes the Hindu concept of the time as circular, rather than linear. This structure moves the plot smoothly with the story ending where it begins, with Aleyah returning home to her family and grandmother. This novel is a perfect blend of poetry and prose, dream and reality, fact and fantasy. Ryhaan Shah is among the best writers in Guyana and the Caribbean. She can be considered the Toni Morrison of the Caribbean and indeed, A Silent Life; can be compared to Morisson’s 1998 novel Beloved.
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Balram Singh Rai was a leading figure in Guyanese politics. His involvement in the political life of the nation dates back to the pre-independence period when Guyana was still a British colony. Rai’s most significant impact took place during the late 1950s and early 1960s, when he joined the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) in the struggle for an independent Guyana. Rai was the Minister of Community Development and Education, and was also Guyana’s first Minister of Home Affairs. He supported and promoted many reforms, including policies that led to an Indian-African “balance” in the police force.
His cultural background and political views led him into open conflict with the leader of the PPP, Dr. Cheddi Jagan. The book chronicles the political involvement of Rai in Guyanese politics and exposes the reign of Jagan and the PPP as a series of missed opportunities and contradictions.
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This volume comprises a collection of speeches by, and letters to, Bhadase Sagan Maraj - a powerful politician, trade unionist and Hindu leader of Trinidad in the1950s and 60s. Maraj provided primary school education to the majority of Hindus and he was the first politician to successfully challenge and defeat the PNM party of Dr Eric Williams in a national election. The accomplishment of defeating the PNM by an Indian political leader in 1956 was not repeated until 1995 by Basdeo Panday who led his UNC to victory for six years.
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This cookbook represents a comprehensive collection of over 70 traditional vegetarian recipes. They have been handed down by indentured immigrants from India by word-of-mouth and practical example for over four generations. From delightful snacks to dinner-party specials - each recipe has been kitchen-tested and, therefore, meets a high standard of accuracy. Some of the dishes are beautifully illustrated in color to tempt your appetite.
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Written as a textbook for secondary schools and as a collector's item for personal pleasure, Caribbean Indian Folktales is an interesting, authentic and useful book. It is the first and largest collection of its kind to be written in the original English dialect of the storytellers. Each tale is also accompanied by a Standard English version which has been sensitively written so as to retain the spirit and rhythm of the original narration. The book consists of a collection of 25 stories which have been passed down from generation to generation by word of mouth from India to the Caribbean over a century and a half. The tales were tape-recorded from tradition-bearers in Trinidad, Guyana, Jamaica, St Lucia, and Grenada since 1980.
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This book brings together the presentations that were made at the BGEIA's centenary celebration in 1938 in British Guiana (now Guyana). The men and women who participated in that celebration were key players in shaping a new vision for Indians. With every new generation, that vision may be reaffirmed, criticized or reshaped to suit current reality. The collection of writings that marked the centenary celebration is an indication that the history of Indians in Guyana has left an indelible mark on the Guyanese experience.
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This is a biography of the legendary Doon Pandit (1900-1958) who was a Hindu priest, community leader and spiritual healer in colonial Trinidad. His reputation as a healer had spread as far India, England, Venezuela and other Caribbean islands. Perhaps his most recognized act was in curing Josephine Shaw, wife of the then-Governor of Trinidad. For the performance of this miracle, he was bestowed the honor of being named a Member of the British Empire (MBE) in 1949.
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This is the first book in the Caribbean which provides information on 236 successful Indian women. The 218 annotated references are accompanied by 130 carefully chosen photographs, some of which are in colour.
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This book is about slavery, free labor and racism. The chapters include information about the journey aboard the "coolie" ships from India, Trinidad in the nineteenth century, immigration and the demands of the plantation economy, education in the colony, colonial elites, Carnival, and the 1884 Hosay/Muharram riots.
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This book explores the origin of dance and traces its movement and development in the Caribbean during indentureship (1845-1917). The relevance of the dance form in a Caribbean setting is discussed as well as a step-by-step approach.
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This volume carries 45 speeches of Simbhoonath Capildeo and Dr Rudranath Capildeo, former Members of Parliament, and Senator Surendranath Capildeo. Interviews with contemporaries of the Capildeo complement the volume. It is illustrated with an elaborate appendix.
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This book contains valuable information on sixty-three local plants, each of which is described and given a botanical name. Their medicinal uses include arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure, headaches, strokes, impotence, sterility, ulcers and skin infections.
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Racism bedevils most societies in the world today. This book explores the Marxist perspective in the Capitalist mode of production and the role of the Church in the development of Racial Ideology in Trinidad. The methodology used provides an example for the study of racial ideology in other countries of the world.
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This work traces the forces which influenced the formation of a Hindu-based organization, The Divine Life Society (DLS), under the leadership of Swami Satchidananda. It also analyses the relationship of other Hindu groups like the Arya Samaj and the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha with the DLS. In essence, the book takes a snapshot of the intra-communal politics for power and control on the eve of Independence in the history of Trinidad.
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Rama’s Voyage is the story of a boy who is forced by circumstances to leave his quiet village for a small town before he makes his journey to Calcutta. The novel is set in British India – at the time prior to and after the Indian Uprising or ‘Mutiny’ – and on the high seas. Alone in the great city, Rama is befriended by two street children and he joins their group. He learns hard lessons, and in desperation embarks on a ‘coolie’ ship bounded for the sugar plantations of the Caribbean. The novel deals with themes rarely explored in fiction. It is a story assailed by tragedy, by man’s inhumanity to man, but it is also evocative of incredible courage and endurance, love and romance, revelation and self-discovery, as Rama moves closer to his destination.
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This book consists of a wide range of papers on the East Indian presence in Trinidad and to some extant Guyana from a sociological, political, historical and anthropological perspective. The themes include migration, the influence of Madan Mohan Malaviya, Mahatma Gandhi and Cheddi Jagan, Political Pluralism, Hindi, Women Laborers, Indian Culinary Dishes and the Indian use of Marijuana.
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This slim publication is a collection of ten selected columns published in the Newsday newspaper from 1997 to 2000 on the theme of the commemoration of Indian Arrival Day in Trinidad. The articles examine the history and development of the event which, even after being declared a national holiday in 1995, is still a source of social and political controversy in the multi-ethnic society.
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The articles cover a wide range of subjects which are really intended to provide a different perspective on critical political issues at the time (1990-1991). Some of the articles are polemical in nature and somewhat acerbic in style. The main theme pursued is the unequal treatment to which Indians have been subjected in Trinidad and Tobago, and the rationalization of discriminatory practices against them. The collection addresses questions of race relations, distributive justice, economic dominance, national integration, cultural expressions and plural societies.
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Published by Calaloux Publications. Distributed locally by Chakra.
The reports of five surviving ex-indentured immigrant laborers are
recorded verbatim to read like an epic poem. A woman, a Madras
emigrant, a Muslim, a Brahmin and a cocoa/rubber estate worker narrate
the conditions of life in village India when they left, the trauma of
crossing the Kala Pani (Black Water), and the experience of adjusting
to a new life among strangers under a driver and overseer on the
plantation ranges in the New World.
