SOCIAL SCIENTIST of the Puranas under the guidance of a guru - which lead to the popularisation and spread of "Hinduism" of this form at the expense of other competing religions. The need to get tribal labour for agricultural work on lands granted to Brahmins in outlying regions inhabited by tribes may have been the stimulus behind the emergence and promotion of this Puranic Hinduism. P.K.Shukla underscores the social harmony and sense of togetherness between the Hindus and the Muslims that characterised the medieval period of our history. An interesting index of this is the fact that over a span of hundred years, i.e. during the eighteenth century, there were only four recorded cases of communal "commotion" which could not even be called "riots". He traces the role of colonial historiography, starting from James Mill, in painting our history in communal colours. The rest of the issue is made up, apart from Sudhir Chandra's fascinating review article on a biography of Brahmabandhab Upadhyay, of Prabhat Patnaik's Ansari memorial lecture at Jamia Millia Islamia, and of the renowned Urdu author Anwer Azeem's obituary tribute, written in 1955, on Manto. Patnaik takes up the proposition, first articulated at the Sixth Congress of the Comintern and subsequently developed by Paul Baran, that a successful diffusion of industrial capitalism from the first to the third world is not possible. While the experience of East and South-east Asia appeared for a while to have discredited this proposition (and the proponents of globalisation under the aegis of imperialism keep asserting this), a new phase of capitalism is upon us, according to Patnaik, whose inner logic once again validates this proposition. In other words, not only are no more South Korean or Malaysian "miracles" possible, but even those countries would not be able to retain the positions they had attained in their respective periods of prosperity. Anwer Azeem the progressive Urdu writer was in Moscow during the mid-50s when he wrote this tribute in the wake of Manto's death. In it, while defending Manto against conservative attacks, he provides a critical evaluation of Manto's work that is of great interest. This valuable document has not been available till now in English translation. We publish a translation essayed by his wife and son after his death on October 20, 2000.