Heildelberg Center South Asia (HCSA) in collaboration with Federation of Indo - German Societies in India (FIGS)

bring you a Talk and Visual Presentation by Amit Pasricha & Axel Michaels

Amit Pasricha and Axel Michaels received the German Photo Book Prize 2014, Silver. The German Photo Book Prize (Deutscher Fotobuchpreis) is awarded by the Association of German Book Publishers (Brsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels). All awarded titles are displayed at international conventions in Paris, Buenos Aires, Abu Dhabi, Warsaw, Sao Paulo, Bangkok, Istanbul, New Delhi, Beijing and Moscow. In their book Heiliges Indien (Holy India), Amit Pasricha and Axel Michaels document and explain the manifold religious life in India. Amit Pasricha took pictures not only at temples, mosques and monasteries, but also during prayers, sacrificial offerings and religious festivals. His photographs lay before the viewer the colourful, intricate mosaic of Indian religion, spirituality, ritual and tradition. Axel Michaels provided background information about religions in India as well as explanatory texts to the images. The book "Heiliges Indien" was published by Edition Panorama in 2012. Amit Pasricha's masterful use of the panoramic format in unintentional but fitting consonance with the wide, encompassing nature of the sacred in India and Axel Michaels insightful text make this Book, a limited edition, to be preserved and treasured.

HEILIGES INDIEN
The German Photo Book Prize 2014, Silver Tuesday, 25th February 2014, 6:30 pm India International Centre Annexe, Lecture Room No. 1 Lodi Estate, New Delhi-110003

Axel Michaels is both a scholar of Indology and Religious Studies. Since 1996 he is Full Professor of Classical Indology, South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg. He established a methodologically innovative form of Indology, called Ethno-Indology that combines thorough philological and textual work on ritual handbooks with extensive fieldwork. Michaels has published 10 and co-published another 7 monographs mostly focusing on ritual practice as well as on legal and cultural history of South Asia. Hinduism-Past and Present by Princeton University Press (reprint by Orient Longman, Delhi) was declared one of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2004. Since 2006 he is a full member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences. Prof. Axel Michaels is one of the most renowned Indologists in Germany. He made headlines once again as he received a 15-year grant by the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences on legal and religious documents from 19th century Nepal.

Amit Pasricha is one of the world's foremost names in the field of Panoramic Photography. Pasricha's collector's edition, The Monumental India Book was acclaimed as one of the top 10 coffee-table books worldwide in 2008. The book was presented as a State gift by the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh to visiting Heads of State including former French President, Nicholas Sarkozy. It's sequel Heiliges Indien (Holy India) book, published 2010, won the Incredible India Award and the prestigious German Photo Book Prize 2014, Silver. Other seminal works include Mughal Architecture and Gardens & Maharaja of Palaces: Umaid Bhavan. His works have been exhibited in India, New York, London, Berlin, Minsk, Prague and Sofia. They also form part of several private collections and have been published in several books including: Dome over India: Rashtrapati Bhavan, Horizons: The Tata-India Century, and Mughal Style and India: Then & Now