May 1994

Professor Barrier Ships 3 Tons of Indian Books To US Every Month

In early February, 1994, New Delhi hosted the largest book fair ever held in India. Here, the first award for promotion of Indian books abroad was given to Prof. N.G. Barrier in recognition of his over 25 years of bringing Indian publications to America and thus improving the understanding between Indians and Americans. The following article on Prof. Barrier and his company, South Asia Books, appeared in the Sunday Times of India.

By Saibal Chatterjee

When Yahya Khan imposed martial law in Pakistan in the spring of 1969, among the people who were caught unawares was a young American bibliophile. Trapped in Ferozesons Book Store on the Mall in Lahore for several hours, he stumbled upon an assortment of eminently readable Pakistani books, including many tomes on Punjab published by the provincial government. By the end of it, he had found his true calling.

"The books were dirt cheap-three to four rupees each. I packed up two trunks although I knew it would be extremely difficult to get the books out of Pakistan. But luck favoured me. Barely 20 minutes before the frontier closed, I managed to slip out of the country, reached India and shipped the books to the US to be sold or circulated among friends and libraries," the tall, sprightly, ponytailed, 54-year-old Professor N. Gerald Barrier recounts, flashing back to the dramatic circumstances in which his career and his company, South Asia Books, were launched.

Books have been his business ever since, but Barrier, winner of the first National Book Trust award for the promotion of Indian publications abroad, has never lived life strictly by the book. The calculated risks he has taken in the last quarter of a century to unveil the works of Indian writers and academicians for American readers have been well worth it. Not only have they given him a great sense of satisfaction, they have also fetched him tidy profits in the bargain.

Today, South Asia Books is far and away the largest American distributor of Indian books. Barrier's warehouse in Columbia, Missouri, USA, has 6,000 square feet of covered space, over 4,500 titles in active stock and the equivalent of a 3-4 person staff. "We have more books about the subcontinent than you can find in any single Indian bookstore," he says with obvious pride. "The level of penetration of Indian books in the US is quite high. Apart from those who buy books directly from publishers and distributors, there are over 20 libraries which receive almost every Indian publication through the Library of Congress. Besides, more than 500 institutions in the US have courses dealing with Indian studies."

Barrier, who received his doctoral degree from Duke University in 1966 and has been teaching at the University of Missouri for 25 years, is convinced that the fears of India being culturally swamped by America are unfounded. "It is a two-way cultural interaction," asserts the scholar-bookseller-publisher who has written or edited eight books and is an authority on Sikh history and Punjab. "The New Age movement in the US is greatly influenced by Indian

traditions-Gandhian thought, vegetarianism, ayurveda, yoga and astrology. Nearly 4,000 titles have been published in the US on yoga alone. Most major Indian writers come out in American editions. In fact, they are often first published in the US," he points out.

India will, therefore, always continue to exercise a deep influence on the lives of Americans, he feels. "The other important source of contact is the large Indian population in the US," he says. "Their culture is spreading. There are probably more Americans than Indians learning classical Indian dance forms in the US today." Barrier himself speaks Hindi and can read Gurmukhi, but he confesses that "my Hindi has become a bit rusty and I cannot speak or understand Punjabi." When asked about his personal religious beliefs, he confided, "I have my roots in the Christian tradition and almost was a minister, but I became disenchanted with the internal politics and institutional problems. I am rather a humanist at this point, but I believe firmly in life after death and some type of transmigration"

Barrier's passion for things Indian dates back to the Hindi language fellowship he had at Duke University for four years. His latest visit to India, essentially to pick up titles at the 11th World Book Fair, is his sixth trip to the subcontinent. Thanks to his avuncular comportment and his laid-back air, he could, if you didn't know him, be mistaken for a Bohemian backpacker hopelessly in love with the wonder that is India.

A lot of publishing is going on in the US but people are probably reading much less. And that is causing Barrier a great deal of consternation. "We've become a visual society. Reading is perceived almost as a punishment. There is television, computers and, now, virtual reality," he observes. "Maybe we are going back to an oral tradition, which is primarily an Indian concept."

Barrier doesn't see himself as much of a businessman and prefers to leave the market analysis and selling to his staff. But he knows Indian books like the back of his hand. "I can instinctively pick up a book that will sell," he says. His 25-year track record as a cross-cultural connoisseur substantiates his claim like nothing else can.

Address: South Asia Books, P.O. Box 502, Columbia, Missouri 65205, USA.

Barrier's Bridge to Bharat

Over the years, Hinduism Today has received testimony of how easy it is to buy books from India (once unheard-of humbug) through South Asia Books. In a flurry of faxes we asked Professor Barrier to tell us more about himself and his company. Below are his words.

The Mission of South Asia Books

South Asia Books provides an accessible supply of books and information on publications from India. I serve as a broker for manuscripts, help Indian and American dealers and increasingly sell textbooks into many courses-especially those relating to history and religion. My other goal is to develop a mass market. I do this by warehousing books delivered by large sea-cargos (5,000 pounds every four weeks) and then keeping the prices down. I try to price so that with discounts I get within a reasonable range of the Rupee price.

I spend about 20-25 hours a week in my academic profession. I teach Modern Indian history-including courses on Asian and Indian civilization, Gandhi, Nonviolence in Modern World History, and modern religion and political movements in India-head important committees, write and publish. I have written 7 books and numerous articles. The other 35 hours a week goes into the book business.

Views of a Veda Vendor

In my opinion, books on Hinduism in the US are often too academic. Those from India often have poor quality production and do not answer some of the questions asked by lay people. There is actually a small market here among Indians, who often do not buy either scholarly or popular books. My experience suggests that far more Americans buy books on Hinduism than Indians.

The Aryan invasion theories are being totally reworked, whether by textual analysis or good solid archaeology. These works suggest modifications are taking place of earlier ideas either dominated by Westerners or nationalist historians who played up some myths about Aryans. We are now getting to the real story.