The book is a collection of essays that examine the biography as a source for historical information. Further, the biographies include those of people `in the middle – merchants, writers, religious leaders’ and marginalized groups such as actresses, and other women.

Chapter 1 Introduction by Vijaya Ramaswamy

Section I Biographical Traditions
Chapter 2 The Artful Biographer, Sandhyakarannandinis `Ramacharitam’ by Kumkum Roy.
Chapter 3  Making a Modern Self in Colonial Tamil Nadu by A.R.Venkatachalapathy
Chapter 4 Writing the Life of the Guru:Chattampi Swamikal, Sree Narayana Guru and
Modes of Biographical Construction by Udaya Kumar.
Chapter 5 Between History and Hagiography:Vivekananda’s Ramakrishna

Section II Biography from the Margins.
Chapter 6 Presenting the Self: Norms and Emotions in Ardhakathanaka by Farhat Hasan
Chapter 7 Muffled Narratives: The Life and Times of Neelambikai Ammaiyar by Vijaya Ramaswamy
Chapter 8 Recovery Recontextualisation and Performances: Questions on the Margin by
Rimli Bhattacharya

Section III European Memoirs in Indian Settings

Chapter 9 A Merchant Adventurer in Portugese Asia: Filipe de Brilo (1580 – 1615) by
Radhika Chaddha.
Chapter 10 A Chronicle of the Times: The Memories of FrancoisMartin(1665-1696) by
Yogesh Sharma
Chapter 11 Memoire surl’Inde: The Memoirs of Piveron de Moriat(1745-1813) by Jean-
Marie Lafont.

Section IV: Writing Biographies: Reminiscences and Reflections

Chapter 12 The Historian as Biographer by B R Nanda
Chapter 13 Its time to Put Down Memories by S. Muthaiah
Chapter 14 Women Narrating Women by Aparna Basu