An inquiry into the development of Indian identity, the book examines the network of social roles, traditional values, and customs with which the threads of Indian psychological development are interwoven. This fourth edition includes a Prologue which situates the work in the contemporary scenario.

PROLOGUE; PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION; I INTRODUCTION: AIMS AND APPROACH; CULTURE AND PERSONALITY; PERSONAL WORD; II THE HINDU WORLD IMAGE: THE THEME OF FUSION-MOKSHA; LIFE TASK AND LIFE CYCLE-DHARMA; IDEAS OF TIME AND DESTINY; III MOTHERS AND INFANTS: PSYCHO-SOCIAL MATRIX OF INFANCY: FEMININE IDENTITY IN INDIA; THE 'GOOD MOTHER'; THE 'BAD MOTHER'; INFANCY AND EGO: ORIGINS OF IDENTITY IN A PATRIARCHAL CULTURE; IV FAMILIES AND CHILDREN: PSYCHO-SOCIAL MATRIX OF CHILDHOOD: THE EXTENDED FAMILY; THE SECOND BIRTH; ONTOGENY OF HOMO HIERARCHICUS; V TRACINGS: THE INNER WORLD IN CULTURE AND HISTORY: CULT AND MYTHS OF KRISHNA; SHIVA AND NARCISSUS; THE REVOLUTIONARY YOGI: CHILDHOOD OF SWAMI VIVEKANANDA; VI CONCLUSION: CHILDHOOD AND SOCIAL CHANGE; APPENDIX: THE CHILD IN INDIAN TRADITION; AFTERWORD; NOTES AND REFERENCES; BIBLIOGRAPHY; INDEX

Sudhir Kakar is a psychoanalyst and writer who lives in Goa, India. His seventeen books of non-fiction and five of fiction include The Inner World, Culture and Psyche, Shamans, Mystics and Doctors, Tales of Love, Sex, and Danger (with John Munder Ross), The Analyst and the Mystic, The Colors of Violence, as also the novels The Ascetic of Desire, Ecstasy, and Mira and the Mahatma. His books have been translated into twenty languages around the world.