"Drawing on premodern answers to rethink postmodern questions, and doing so with a philosopher's rigor, a non-philosopher's readability, and enormously creative thinking, Jonardon Ganeri does two important things at once. He suggests how to move forward into the future on the thorniest problems of self-identification, while revealing the depths of India's intellectual past and the resources it can offer for that task." -Sheldon Pollock, Columbia University "Recent philosophical writing on the subject of identity. though often focused on distant parts of the globe, has failed to tap the philosophical traditions outside the West in the analyses it provides. This ambitious book admirably overcomes that limitation and locates in the tradition of Indian philosophy a basis for the idea that our identities are not given to us but are rationally chosen. Its range of historical reference --from Manu to Matilal-- is impressive and presented with confidence and verve. It will add rigour and detail and historical depth to a concept ('identity') that still remains relatively indisciplined in its deployment in the study of politics and culture." - Akeel Bilgrami, Johnsonian Professor of Philosophy, Department of Philosophy, Committee on Global Thought, Columbia University, New York.