REVIEWS
Mahatma Gandhi and
Comparative Religion: By Dr K. L. Seshagiri
Rao. Motilal Banarsidass,
This
is a valuable addition to the many interpretations of the Mahatma’s religious
outlook and his abiding faith in Truth as God. Apart from dealing with
the utterances of the Mahatma on various occasions during his confrontation
with devotees of other religious faiths such as Christianity, Islam, Buddhism,
Jainism, etc., in a friendly spirit and his conviction of every religion
bearing in its core some vital points of universal acceptance which could
easily make for real seekers of harmony and understanding among the warring
creeds and doctrines, the author has travelled widely
to analyse the standpoints of each of the religions
and show to us how Gandhiji reflected deeply on them, their unique
individualities and their apparent differences and strove in his own unique way
to harmonise them all. The excerpts from Gandhiji’s many writings and speeches have enriched the
treatment of the subject.
But
for an adequate study of comparative religions and a comprehensive grip on the
inner meaning of the living faiths, no attempt could prove so effectively to
convey to us the main sources of world’s religions and the solution which
Gandhiji conceived as of immense help for people not to emphasise
on the peculiarities in each of them but take up those basic contents which
could form a good ground for all to tolerate insurmountable differences while
gaining much from common tenets amidst so apparently a variety of beliefs.
The
headings of the chapters as well as the copious references at the end of each
chapter here, assure the earnest student that the clear enunciation of problems
arising out of a study such as Conversion, Scriptural Interpretation, etc.,
would profit him by the treatment here in a scholarly manner.
The
Foreword of Dr R. R. Divakar is eminently a necessary
introduction to this durable thesis on Gandhiji’s
mind as a spiritual influence on people of this age.
–K.
CHANDRASEKHARAN
In Tune with the
Millions – Sardar Patel: Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Smarak Bhavan, Ahmedabad. Price: Rs. 25.
This
is the third volume in the series undertaken by the Sardar
Vallabhbhai Patel Smarak Bhavan
to commemorate the services of the “Iron Man”, as he was known, for his stern sense
of duty. This volume is divided into seven parts and some of the utterances on
significant occasions such as the unification of the various States, e.g.,
With
Appendices containing material of value and the illustrations of some of the
events of those days when he participated in the administration of the country,
the volume is a mine of information. The future historians may never be
disappointed for authentic information on vital points of the New Bharat that came into being, by a perusal of this
third of the Commemoration Volumes.
–K.
CHANDRASBKHARAN
Nagarjunakonda (A
Cultural Study): By K. Krishna Murthy. Concept Publishing
Company, I,
The
cultural history of a country reveals itself not merely in its literature,
music, dance, religion and philosophy but also in its architecture, sculpture
and painting. Nagarjunakonda stands as an immortal monument of the history of
Andhra culture revealed in stone.
“Nagarjunakonda”
is a monumental work depicting the material culture of Andhras belonging to the 3rd-4th century A.
D. of the reign of Ikshvakus. Greater emphasis is laid
on art treasures, especially sculptures, by the author than on the other
aspects, for all other aspects of the history of that period could
only manifest themselves through the sculptures alone.
The
author is a profound scholar, and not only a scholar but also a discerning
connoisseur with aesthetic sensibilities. He has studied the history of art
intensively as well as extensively. As to the distinction of the art of
Nagarjunakonda, he writes:
“The
art of Nagarjunakonda requires to be studied in the context of the
Andhra School of Art. In the lower Godavari-Krishna Valley, during 200 B. C.
and 350 A. D., many Buddhist settlements came up at places like Bhattiprolu, Jaggayyapeta, Ghantasala, Amaravati, Gummadidurru,
Goli, Nagarjunakonda and other cognate sites. Their
style, form, technique, theme and symbolism connect all these centres into an unified integrated
school known as the
Formerly
Nagarjunakonda was called Sriparvata Vijayapuri ruled by the Ikshvaku
kings who succeeded the Satavahnas of Amaravati
(Dhanyakataka). These Andhra Ikshvakus
were quite different from those Ikshvakus of Ayodhya. According to the author the Andhra Ikshvaku dynasty was founded by Vasishtiputra
Chantimula by usurping a portion of the Satavahana kingdom towards the decline of the latter in the
first quarter of the 3rd century A. D. The author says that the name
Nagarjunakonda is of medieval origin; he denies the existence of any
archaeological finds able to establish the association of the celebrated Nagarjuna of the Madhyamika
School of Mahayana Buddhism, with Vijayapuri
(Nagarjunakonda).
The
names of four rulers stand out in the Ikshvaku
dynasty who reigned Nagarjunakonda: Vasishtiputra Chantimula, Mathariputra Virapurushadatta, Vasishtiputra, Ehuvala Chantamula and Vasishtiputra Rudrapurushadatta. During the period of their reign there
used to be trade by sea with many a foreign land, both East and West, including
The
book contains fourteen chapters, each chapter dealing with a separate subject.
Architecture, costumes, personal ornaments, coiffure and head-dress, domestic
vessels and other household objects, furniture, musical instruments, weapons,
conveyances, toys, games and other amusements, miscellaneous objects and other
items, royal insignia, and flora and fauna of that period are
meticulously dealt with accompanied by pictorial demonstrations based on the
sculptures of Nagarjunakonda, which represent all the aforesaid objects in
detail.
The
chapter on architecture deals with regal buildings, houses of the wealthy
class, dwellings of the commonality, architectural peculiarities, religious
structures, materials and masonry, etc. With the same detail the chapter on
costumes deals with various types of apparel worn by people of different strata
of the society.
The
author states:
“In
another panel representing ‘the Nativity and Seven Steps’ some additions to a
queen’s dress can be seen. The queen Maya is shown wearing an ‘antariya’ with its knot (nivi) at
the front. References to such knots of the lower garments in literature are
plenty. The lower garment of queen Maya is shown secured by a waist-band around
her waist with its loop and ends falling on the left hip. A narrow strip of
cloth hangs in the front with its two ends attached to the ‘Kamarabandha’,
thus making a broad loop.”
By
the various descriptions of the objects used by the people in their everyday
lives in those times provide us with evidences of the high and cultured
standard of life lived by both the royal and the common men and women. Thus the
author has spared no trouble in rendering the volume a magnificent one.
Comparing
the art of Nagarjunakonda with that of Amaravati, the author states:
“The
facial type at Nagarjunakonda is round whereas at Amaravati, especially that of
women, is slightly oval. The sense of facial modelling
at Amaravati is expressive, and comparatively, the round faces of
Nagarjunakonda are dull and speechless in expression; but the lines that define
the human frame in Nagarjunakonda are flowing and flexible.”
“Nagarjunakonda”
is magnificent both in its scholarly yet expressive text and the numerous
fascinating illustrations of the Nagarjunakonda sculptures. This
volume enlightens and delight the reader critically and aesthetically
respectively.
–SANJIVA DEY
The Samnyasa
Upanishads: Translated into English by Prof. A. A. Ramanathan. The Adyar
Library and Research Centre, Madras-20. Price Rs. 30.
Though
the text of the Samnyasa Upanishads with the
commentary of Brahmayogin appeared as far back as in
1929 under the auspices of the Adyar Library, the
renderings in English are published now for the first time. All the 17
Upanishads–including the Narada-parivrajakopanishad
(which is the longest) – dwell upon the subject of renunciation, fitness for
entering that stage of life, the rules that apply to the different categories
of Samnyasins, their modes of conduct, their
graduation from stage to stage.
There
are, says the Narada-parivrajaka, six orders of
ascetics: “Kutichaka, a hut dweller, who has a tuft
of hair and sacred thread, an emblematic staff, a water pot, and who takes food
in one place.
Bahudaka, remaining in a holy
place of sacred waters, having accoutrements similar to the former and subsists
on eight mouthfuls of food, secured as alms from householders, bee-like.
Hamsa, wearing matted hair and loin-cloth,
living on five mouthfuls of food secured at random from five different houses.
Paramhamsa, who has shaven head,
wears no sacred thread, lives on food similar to that of a Hamsa,
secured from five houses, without an alms-bowl, has an emblematic staff of a
single bamboo, is smeared with holy ashes and has no possession.
Turyatita, who receives food
consisting of fruits into the mouth or other food as alms from three houses, is
unclad and his body just alive.
Avadhuta, who has shaken off
all worldly attachments, is bound by no duties, takes food as it comes (like a
python) from anyone without caste distinction and is ever absorbed in
meditation.”
There
are certain pre-requisites for Brahman-realisation. They include, explains the
translator, “Discriminative knowledge of the eternal and non-eternal, the
necessary control of the internal organs and the external senses, indifference
towards enjoyments here or hereafter and a burning desire for liberation.”
Some
of the commentators on the Taittiriya Upanishad differ on the question whether
the anandamaya purusha,
self of bliss, is the ultimate self or is itself a kind of encasement for
the core-self. The Katharudropanishad is unambiguous
on the point: “The self of bliss is pervaded by Brahman, the witness, the
innermost of all. Brahman is not pervaded by anything else.” (26)
Among
other interesting observations is one in the Narada-parivrajaka
which calls the person who turns ascetic even when he has attachments,
degraded. (13) One is entitled to renounce only when desirelessness
arises in the mind. (12)
The
commentary on the same Upanishad explains the symbology
of the tridanda, three-fold staff of
the mendicant ascetic: “Philosophically the three Dandas
(restraints) are: vagdanda, restraint
in speech, kayadanda, restraint of the
bodily senses and manodanda, restraint
of the mind.”
The
Samnyasopanishad makes an interesting distinction:
“Advancement in the spiritual path is two-fold – that of the she-cat and the
she-monkey. Those who practise spiritual wisdom (Jnana) are like she-cats; the secondary way is like that of
a she-monkey. The note on this verse (120) explains: “Those who pursue the path
of the attributeless Brahman become one with Brahman
simultaneously with that realisation, just as a cat realises
its aim by thinking for a short time. Those who attempt to realise Brahman with
attributes (saguna brahman)
do so gradually as does a monkey with its grip in the course of its climb.”
It
may be mentioned that in another tradition, of prapatti
(surrender), the baby-cat analogy applies to utter surrender: the
mother-cat holds the young one firmly. The baby-monkey stands for personal
effort: the babe has to tightly hold on to the body of its mother.
The
translations, notes and the editing are to the point and accurate.
–M. P. PANDIT
The Seventh Gate
(Autobiography): By Peter Greave. Penguin Overseas Ltd., 706, Eros Apartments,
56 Nehru Place, New Delhi-24. Price: 90 p.
Peter
Greave was born in Calcutta on the twenty-ninth of October 1910. His father,
the senior Mr. Greave, an orphan at the age of four, had an indifferent
education, and had joined the British Army, which brought him to India, where
he prospered as a businessman. Interestingly enough, Peter Greave’s
difficulties also began at the age of four, when his parents left him entirely
to the care of an ayah and left on a business tour. The family’s fortunes
fluctuated, and Greave had no regular education continuously. At the age of 14
he found himself in “a shoddy boarding school on the outskirts of Darjeeling”,
his mother having entered a convent as a destitute. The most graphically
described event in the book is Greave’s running away from that school, scared
of repressive life, to seek refuge with a friend of his mother’s, one Mrs.
Sprague, who lived in Silchar. It reminds one of
David Copperfield’s adventures at a similar stage of
life. Describing his adolescence, Greave says: Fantasies of love and pain
dominated my imagination, and a single sentence in a book, or the momentary
sight of a pair of graceful legs, would produce a violent erection, which was
the source of recurring embarrassment. “This was the period when I read every
book I could lay my hands on. He lived in a world of fantasy, and took long
walks in the Indian countryside. On one occasion he had a significant
experience. He entered a deserted Hindu temple, dark and strangely chill
inside. On the mottled wall was written the message in Urdu: “He who enters the
Seventh Gate may not retrace his footsteps.” The young Greave “felt
inexplicably shaken, even a little afraid, as though this enigmatic warning was
directed specifically towards myself...” He emerged out of the temple and sat
looking at the sunset. “My contact with reality suddenly dwindled…What followed
is difficult to describe, but in the course of the next few minutes my brain
achieved a sensitivity, an intuitive awareness of the future which was not
unlike a clairvoyant experience…a clear intimation of what awaited me in the
years that lay ahead suddenly tore me apart. At that moment I knew the meaning
of ‘The Seventh Gate’ and I glimpsed what for me would lie beyond it...regions
of indescribable terror and happiness.” Greave refers to his sensuality and
leprosy, a combination of two factors that made his life, “close to hell and
within touching distance of heaven.” However, the prophetic vision had not been
specific enough about the disease; had it been, that young boy might have
“stepped forward into the long drop to the rocky gorge below” and ended his
life.
The
title of the book derives from that experience. (Pp. 123-124) In the remaining
sixty pages, however, the reader does not get what he is led to expect; the
heaven and hell; the human relationships and what Greave made out of them;
there is nothing whatsoever, except some details about his unemployment, his
dependence on his father, how his father finally dismissed him, etc. Greave
spent the major part of his youth in India, but there was no emotional
entanglement on his part with anything Indian, either places or men. He
discovered he was a leper in August 1939. The World War began in September. “My
world had been so recently destroyed that it hardly seemed surprising that
everything familiar and secure should also be shattered into fragments.” His
single thought now was to get back to England, though he had no friends or
relatives there. In 1946 he received a letter from Dr. Riley, to whom he had
written, that he could depend on treatment and care if he went to England. He
had to approach his father, as a last resort, for passage money. With Greave
standing on the deck of the ship bidding farewell to India, the book ends. The
book is disappointing in more than one respect. In an autobiography, the author
has to be frank and Greave is not. Although Greave is aware of the central
theme of his book, “The Seventh Gate” experience and what it implies, he evades
talking about that vital subject in the book. If autobiography was not a
suitable medium for the theme, he could have expressed himself more
purposefully and effectively in a novel. Except giving some scrappy details
about his later life, he has failed to make a book about what was spiritually
most significant. The early chapters are better in coherence and detail. The
work lacks form. And it has no special interest to Indian readers, though the
location is India. The Englishman in Greave never gave up his insularity.
–R. S.
The king who said his
wife: By Syed Amanuddin;
India in English
fiction: By D. K Chakravorty;
The yesterdays of my
life: By Perin C. Mehta. All published by Prayer Books, Calcutta. The former
two are priced Rs. 25, while the last is priced Rs. 20.
Transmuting
an ancient myth into a modern drama in English is not so easy at it sounds.
Mere translation would be banal; if we take liberties in interpretating
the result could be grotesque. Satya Harischandra is a favourite of
the Indian theatre and has gripped the sophisticated as well as the
un-sophisticated consciousness through the centuries. Syed
Amanuddin has chosen this tale, no doubt influenced
by the recent trend in Indo-Anglian drama. According to the blurb, Dr. Amanuddin has tried to project Harischandra
as possessing the flaw of hubris in his excessive pride as one wedded to
truth. However, this has not been done in a convincing manner, and the king
remains wooden to the end. The chorus of the “young man” is an artistic
failure. Willing to innovate as a Girish Karnad, Dr. Amanuddin is yet
afraid to make a bold transformation. We end up with a rather prosaic play with
the protagonist and antagonist unbelievably verbose, and neither exhibiting any
noble trait. The terrifying moment when Hardy’s Henchard sells his wife is totally absent and this is
because the dramatist is bent upon explaining the action. Obviously he has no
experience in writing for the theatre. However, if we only want to spend an
hour merely reading the play, there’s plenty of showy philosophy to keep us
thinking. Here is Harischandra pontificating to Chandramati at the cremation ground:
“Chandramati, you don’t know what you are talking about.
God’s ways are mysterious. His mercy shines forth at unexpected moments. He
tests those he loves best to make sure His loved ones love Him too. Our misery
is but a temptation to lure us away from Him. Let us not despair in his mercy.”
Dr.
D. K. Chakravorty has tried hard to get away with
very limited reading on his chosen subject. It is surprising that he has not
heard at all of the 1971 Andhra University publication, India in English
Fiction! The familiar names flit through the slim volume: Kipling, Forster, Myers, Maugham
and Mrs. Steele. As one continues to read, an undefined suspicion grows in
one’s mind that we have read this before. And so we have. I took up K. R Srinivasa Iyengar’s The
Adventure of Criticism and found that Dr. Chakravorty
has presented much from Iyengar as his own in the
chapter on Myers Names, quotations, phrases and points of view carefully
jumbled, are all from the essay on Myers in The Adventure of Criticism, a
clever but silly trick played upon the unwary reader. Scholars who have made a
deep study of Kipling, Forster, Maugham
and Orwell might find the truth about the other essays. For us one sample is
enough.
Which
brings us to the light essays of Perin C. Mehta. These brief articles try to recapture those elusive
moments of humour and tragedy that occur in one’s
life. She has an observant eye and a generous heart; hence The Yesterdays of
my Life gives pleasurable bed-side reading.
–Dr. PREMA
NANDAKUMAR
Justice and
Development (In the Indian Context): Edited by Thomas Paul.
Published by Pontifical Institute of Theology and Philosophy, Alwaye-3. Price: Rs. 8.
This
volume containing eleven lectures in honour of Fr. Zachrias is the second in the series and has been a very
useful compilation. The lectures deal with the economic, social and religious
growth in the developing countries, especially India. The first of the
lectures, “Poverty in the midst of Plenty” indicates how the country with vast
economic resources has not gained much, in spite of Five Year Plans and the
Public Sector’s endeavour towards industrializing the
entire Union in such a manner as to ensure ere long greater income per capita
and a general raising of standard of comfort and living. It has been
pertinently pointed out how the very economists planning for the prosperity of
the country only deal with the economic growth instead of the all-round
development. Lately a new awareness has dawned which chooses to think of
development of a comprehensive nature inclusive of social justice, structural
reforms in socio-political and socio-economic realms as an integral part of
development.
Dignity
of man forma the theme for another of these lectures, emphasising
the fact that man must make himself a “person” and live so truly and really
himself. His dignity should rest on liberty. Naturally not merely the right of
equality should redeem him but the duty of equity, failure of which would be
punishing him.
Education
which is a vital concomitant of any progress, contributes to the personality of
man and as such science and religion must become complementary to each other.
The part of revolution in the process of development is discussed in a further
lecture and pragmatic solutions suggested to bridge the yawning gulf between
the haves and the have-nots.
Search
of social justice forms the main topic for another lecture and the speaker
points out how many of the aids from foreign nations through governments only
benefit the better-off peasants and never touch the core of the problem, of
grinding poverty of the masses.
In
the next one on “World Justice” the changed circumstances due to the unsettled
conditions caused by the “Oil” countries in the international sphere, affected
the original status of many of the Western powers. With sufficient
illustrations the matter has been discussed.
New
efforts made are also dwelt upon to ensure the aid from developed countries to
the developing countries. The role of rich nations for maintaining the claim of
“justice” of poorer countries has been stressed adequately.
The
role of religion, especially of Hinduism, has a place in the future development
of India. Prophets such as Sri Narayana Guru have
been mentioned as helpers in the rejuvenation of a casteless society, though
one has to demur at the speaker’s statement about the folly of the attempt to
instill the “idea of transformation of the Jiva into
abstract Atma.” The concluding chapters complete the
comprehensive survey taken up in these lecures.
It
is a very useful volume and needs must find a place in the libraries of
publicists of this country.
–“SAHRIDAYA”
Fables and Fantasies
for Adults: By Manoj Das. Orient
Paperbacks. 36-C, Connaught Place, New Delhi-1.
Price: Rs. 5-50.
Under
the veil of fables and fantasies, this bunch of very resting stories provide a
lot of amusement to the readers. No doubt they are satires upon the ways of men
and women in society as well as the so-called publicists whose activities often
conform to the ridiculous as proved in the three fables Panchatantra
for Adults. With remarkable facility for sustaining the story interest
throughout, the author would relieve any tedium to which an indolent reader may
be subject. The humour consists in the manner of the
apparent stupidity which encircles some of the dialogues purposely introduced.
The old, old method of Panchatantra in making the
animal and bird life respond to the intimations of the humans, has a catchy
effect upon a sophisticated modern world as ours with its pompousness of highly
ensconced power and unfeeling exclusiveness of self-imposed importance.
–“SAHRIDAYA”
Call for Freedom: By
Pranab Bandopadhyaya.
United Writers, 70/2 Belighata Main Road,
Calcutta-10. Price: Rs. 20.
Call for Freedom lives
up to the reputation of Pranab Bandopadhyaya
as a poet of Indian life and confirms his status as a poet. The title poem
“Call for Freedom” etches out the lonely figure of a poet, “standing here on
this land by the hospital as the moonlit night overtakes shrouded by hazy
curtains of fog.” As his beloved Kamala dies in that dreamy desolate night, he
becomes disconsolate and wishes to die. The call for freedom is thus a call for
Death–“an escape from the mortal tie/for the soul to rest in peace in the
blessed land / away from the indifferent arrogant world.” We are not
told how the world was “indifferent” and “arrogant” to him, but we are to
assume the world, the war-torn civilization of today, has something to do with
the death of his beloved, thus making the death of Kamal
synonymous with the death of love in this world, which lifts the individual
incident to the universal level. The cry of the poet then is the cry of the
modern man against the crushing marauding march of civilisation.
As a protest the poet “loves to get back my flint stone, forsaking matchbox.” This,
indeed, is the primitivism of modern poets like D. M. Lawrence. The idea of the
poet’s alienation from the work-a-day world, the image of the world as hospital
wherever everybody is ill, (a Freudian) death wish, a yearning for primitive
life–a regression made more explicit in the second poem “The Curbe” where he cries:
O
Life, why was I not closeted
with
my childhood days alone?
A
flower in undying spring
me
the happiest king on earth–
give the poem an air
of post-war poetry of modern Europe. Though it is a success on artistic plane,
its authenticity of emotion is rather doubtful. But in the later pages the poet
deals with typical Indian situations and sentiments and pours out his heart’s
feelings without any attitudinisation.
The
poems “Journalist” and “Robin” come off well and deserve a special mention.
They wring our hearts with pity and engender a sympathetic understanding of the
world around. Lines such as the following haunt our memory long after the book
was closed:
It’s
only the arithmetic of the flood
that’s
carried in the morning papers (p. 18)
A
trader of years in the market of news
bought
and sold,
alas,
the father of news has no news value at all (p. 20)
Robin
was a bachelor with a big family (p. 28)
The
car had both the headlights on (p. 28)
The
poem “Return from the airport” is in the vein of metaphysical poetry. The
following lines don the Donna-like quality of wit: The lone airport–a
transition / and not a crematorium: / a sacred place from where /
good souls take off” (p. 25)
“In
wherever you go” the poet gives vignettes of Indian life. He is at his best in
such descriptions.
–Dr.
G. SRIRAMAMURTY
When the Shoe Fits: Lectures
of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Rajneesh Foundation,
Poona.
Without
getting into the prevailing controversy concerning the activities of Bhagwan Rajneesh, by objective
reading one can find much illuminating material in the book under review.
One
of the early Chinese Master-Philosophers is Chuang Tzu. His stories have sublime philosophical implications.
Based on the English translations of his stories in Thomas Merton’s book “The
Way of Chuang Tzu,” Bhagwan Rajneesh gave a series of
lectures at his Poona Ashram expounding the spiritual and philosophical
implications of the stories. The book under review comprises ten such lectures
(given by Bhagwan Rajneesh
during the Autumn of 1974 from October 11 to October 20) entitled, ‘When the
Shoe Fits’, ‘The Tower of the Spirit’, ‘Flight from the Shadow’, ‘Fighting
Cock’, ‘Money Mountain’, ‘Symphony for a Seabird’, ‘Autumn Floods “ ‘The
Turtle’, ‘Duke Hwan and the Wheelright’
and ‘Man is Born in Tao.’
Discussing
the philosophical symbolism of the stories, Bhagwan Rajneesh presents the essence of all religions and
interprets the stories in terms of universal religion for the salvation of man.
His interpretations are replete with Vedic and Upanishadic
and Gita echoes and are flooded with profound
statements of illumination: for example–
Everything
unnatural has to be avoided …
the
more a man is cultured the more dangerous he is. (p. 9)
inside
you is the eternal, the immortal...
the
invisible tower is the spirit. (p. 60)
So
a frog has a frog mind. (p. 235)
Happiness
depends on others...
bliss
depends just on you, it is independent. (p. 242)
Whatsoever
you give, you will receive.
Whatsoever
you sow, you will reap.
God
comes to you the way you reach Him. (p. 370)
The
shoe fits only when the foot is flexibly suitable: when the soul becomes
detached and disentangled, rid of ego and selfishness, then shall it fit
blissfully into the bosom of the Divine – the merger of Aatman
with Paramaatman. That is the
essential message which Bhagwan Rajneesh
conveys in his lectures.
In
the book, each story of Chuang Tzu
in its English translation is first given, and then follows the illuminating
interpretation of the story. One outstanding feature is that Bhagwan Rajneesh’s explanation
has poetic felicity; and aptly the lectures are printed in the pattern of vers libre. Hence
the book affords a pleasing and spiritually rewarding reading. The contents and
the format and the get-up of the book are all excellent.
–Dr. K. V. S.
MURTI
Vignanalahari
(Price not quoted). Esoteric Wisdom. Price: Rs. 5. Time for Sane Living. Price: Re. 1. Cosmo
Social Dynamic. Price: Rs. 4. By Subramanya Iyer, Narasimha Bhavan, Bhadravati. Karnatak.
All
the four books deal with a variety of topics and each in the quartet is an echo
of the other. The expectation of the author on Paratatva,
Purusha and Prakriti, the
inorganic and organic phases in evolution, different planes of existence – Tri-gunas, Pancha Bhutas,
Purusharthas, Law of Dharma as the “Cosmic
Legislator.” Law of Karma as the “Cosmic Executor” etc. is simply superb. There
is clarity of thought, brevity of expression and grip of the subject in
the presentation. The goal of all Yogas, whether it
is Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga or Jnana
Yoga is realisation of Ananda and sacrifice (Yajna) of lower self to higher self. This is amply borne
out by the immortal triad: Asatoma Sadgamaya, Tamasoma Jyotirgamaya, Mrityoma Amrutamgamaya.
–K. SUBBA RAO
Your food and you: By
K. T. Acharya. National Book Trust, New Delhi. Price Rs. 5-50.
Nutrients,
that foods contain, balanced diets, food-patterns prevalent in India, food fads
and taboos, daily allowances needed for pregnant women and nursing mothers,
infant foods, deficiency, diseases, ailments caused by contaminations and
pollution are some of the subjects discussed in this work with 16 illustrative
tables appended. And it goes without saying that except the top brackets those
who fall below the poverty line are badly under-nourished and cannot afford to
have a daily intake of required calories.
Some
popular beliefs about cereals, hot and cold foods, and misconceptions about
pregnancies and lactation are viewed in detail and held unscientific and not
quite in agreement with latest nutritional knowledge. Pan-boiled rice, raw
vegetables, pressure cooked foods, steamed products, pan-fried items and
combination foods are recommended so that the body could have the nutrients
without any loss, necessary for its upgrowth and
proper maintenance. But these luxuries are beyond the reach of the poor and
realisation of Menssana in Corpore sano is to them, a
distant dream, a haze and not a reality.
–K. SUBBA RAO
Developing good study
habits: By R. Srinivasa Rao.
Department of Education, Venkateswara University, Tirupati. Price: Rs. 6.
This
book is a record of Seminar proceedings, conducted by the Post-graduate
Department of Education, Venkateswara University, Tirupati, on the subject: Developing good study habits. To
study is to get educated and reading with comprehension alone is true study
which when developed into a habit pays good dividends in life. The Seminarists and Group Rapporteurs
conclude that Seminars, Tutorials, Team Work, Group Discussions and. proper
services of librarians engender and strengthen the study habit provided the
physical, emotional and environmental factors contribute their bit of
co-operation. But the habit sustains itself when the interest of the educated
happens to be innate and merits got out of habits acquired and moulded lack sparkle and cannot outshine talents, aptitudes
and abilities that come by birth. The so-called drills and skills designed to
instill into impressionable minds the advantages of study befit plodders and
low achievers and not sharp intellects who can on their own garner, marshall, organise sequence and
integrate facts without any adventitious aids. Some of the discussion papers
are critical of the present day system of education on the ground that it helps
mere memorising and regurgitating of what is learnt
by rote. But memory is not an endowment to be slightingly by-passed or
relegated to the background. Even originality without it cannot wash. Good
study habits are commendable enough if the knowledge gathered thereof is
properly utilised to the benefit of society. On the
contrary knowledge is losing humanism in its practical aspect and glories in
its perversion and its dynamism boosts self-agrandisement
at micro-and macro-levels (individual and national). Social welfare is reduced
to a pious hope and a receding aspiration. The purpose of the monographs
brought out by the Department of Education will beat be served if they
tend to educate man to love his suffering neighbour
and prevent his lapse into square No. 1 of his
arboreal state.
–K. S. RAO
Sankara
Digvijayam: By Madhava
Vidyaranya. Translated by Swami Tapasyananda.
Sri Ramakrishna Math, Madras-4. Price: Rs. 10.
There
are quite a good number of biographies of Acharya Shankara. The present one is by the celebrated Vidyaranya who was the chief minister of Vijayanagar Empire in his purvashrama.
Swami Tapasyananda, in his elaborate introduction,
shows a deep knowledge of the extant biographical material and sifts
between history and legend. Discussing the date of the Acharya, he is inclined to place it between the 5th and the
7th century A. D. He thinks it is much earlier than the end of
the 8th century, the usually accepted date by modern scholars.
Writing
on the historicity of Shankara, he points out that
despite the many differences among writers on certain important details of his
life, the main outlines of it stand proved. His impress on most of the temples
and holy places in India, his great commentaries on the prasthana
traya, and above all his continuing inspiration dynamising the ancient Order of Sannyasins
under the banner of his name are unchallengeable.
The
translation is free and selective without omitting passages of descriptions of
Nature, etc., when they are highly poetical. The translator brings a modern
approach to bear on the material before him and exercises his discrimination in
choosing only those facts that are not mixed with fiction, however devout. His
remark that the custom of calling the heads of all Shankara
Maths as Shankaracharya has
caused much confusion in this field. Also the fact that many a lesser author
has passed off his work or works under the name of “Shankara”,
works which clearly could not have been penned by the pristine author of the Bhashya on the Brahma Sutras.
–M. P. PANDIT
Svarajyasiddhi:
By Gangadhara Saraswati.
Editor: B. R. Modak. Karnataka Visvavidyalaya,
Dharwar. Price: Rs. 18.
Written
in the style of the other siddhi classics
in Advaita literature, this work in Samskrit deals with the attainment of svarajya,
the freedom of the Self. The first chapter (54 verses), adhyaropa
prakarana, deals with the question of bondage due
to super-imposition. This can be destroyed only by the direct knowledge of the
Atman, the Reality. Concepts of Avidya, Maya, Adhyasa are explained. The second chapter (66 verses), apavada prakarana, dwells
upon the higher order of Reality which yields the highest beatitude that man
can reach. The third (47 verses), kaivalya prakarana, concludes with the ways to attain the Atman
and the state of the Jivanmukta. The last few verses
are a veritable Jivanmukta Gita.
The
treatise is a summary of the Upanishads and also a metrical exposition of the
Brahma Sutras in essence. It has been here translated into English and Kannada,
with relevant notes. The text of the verses is in Kannada script. The work is
intelligible and reads fluently in Kannada.
–M.
P. PANDIT
Sri Vishvakarmanvaya Pradipika: Edited
and commented upon by G. Jnanananda. Jnana Bhandar, BEML Nagar. KGF
563 115. Price: Rs. 20.
Originally
written in Samskrit by Sri Varaha
Narasimhacharya, the present work is its rendering in
Kannada along with elaborate explanations and a critical introduction. Based
upon a study of the ancient literature–Vaidic and
popular–the Puranas and history and tradition, this
scholarly book attempts to trace the institution of the Artisan in the Indian
society direct from the Vishwakarman, the Architect
of the universe. It seeks to explain their customs and mores with reference to
the sruti and smriti.
An important addition to the extant literature on the classification of the
Hindu society.
–M.
P. PANDIT
Samskrita-kavi-Samiikshaa:
By Dr Amaranaatha Paandeya. Published by Choukhamba
Orientalia, Varanasi-1. Price: Rs.
12.
For
the first time we have, in this work under review, a concise history, critical
appreciation and estimate of fifteen Samskrit poets
and dramatists, from Valmiki to Sriharsha,
in about 225 Samskrit verses of different metres. Bare text is given at first. Then each verse is
again given and commented upon in Hindi. The text in verses highlights the
salient features of each poet and his works. The commentary discusses the date
of each poet. Poetic or dramatic merits as the case may be of each work pointed
out in the verses, are illustrated with suitable examples from the texts.
Defects are not left without notice. The author makes out that there is a suggestion
of the doctrine of “Pratyabhijna” in Kalidasa’s Shakuntalam.
Cloud in the Meghaduta is
suggestive of a Saadhaka. “Hamsa”
in Sriharsha’s Naishadhiya-charitam
stands for jnaana. Some such points are hinted here
and there. Verses in appreciation of the fifteen poets found in Samskrit works are collected in the first appendix. An
introduction in Hindi describes the main characteristics of Samskrit
literature. The author has done a commendable job. This work is a good
introduction to the study of classical Samskrit
literature.
–B. KUTUMBA RAO
Silpa
Darsanamu: By Dr Konduru Veeraraghavacharyulu. Gandhinagaram, Tenali. Price: Rs. 12.
Though
not included in the list of famous Darsanas, Silpa – which mainly denotes sculpture, architecture,
village and town, planning and vehicles, etc., –may also be treated as a Darsana because the main teachings of Silpasastra
were based on the visualisations of our seers in
their Samaadhis.
All credit goes to Ananda Coomaraswamy, Ganguly, Havell and a host of other art critics for having interpreted our art and sculpture in their proper light, in their valuable writings in English. The versatile scholar-poet and philosopher Dr K. Veeraraghavacharyulu did signal service to Indian sculpture and architecture by writing this book on Silpa in charming Telugu. The first edition of this work won encomiums from eminent scholars. In this second edition of the work five more chapters are added. The whole gamut of Silpa in India from Vedic times up to now in its various aspects is presented here. This can easily be acclaimed as a mini-encyclopaedia on Silpa in Telugu.
The
book contains 22 chapters. Philosophy of Silpa, and
process of creation. Importance of name and form, Visvakarma
and Silpins ancient and modern, Images and their
measurements, Significance and symbolism of some images and temples, Yantra Silpa, Works on Silpa ancient and modern, are some of the important topics
dealt with and all these chapters deserve a close study. Information from rare
and most valuable works like ‘Manasara’ in Samskrit and modern works in English is given in this book.
Photos of paintings in Ajanta and Ellora
and of sculptures at Ramappagudi and Alampuram, are another attraction of this book. Any student
of Indian art and architecture cannot afford to ignore a close study of
this work. Students of ancient Indian culture and heritage have much to learn
from this book packed with rich information on the subject.
–B. KUTUMBA RAO
Kannada Sahitya Charitra: By
Dr. R. V. S. Sundaram. Andhra Pradesh Sahitya Akademi, Saifabad, Hyderabad-4. Price: Rs.
5.
This
is a concise history of Samskrit literature divided
into six periods–ancient and modern and those that are named after the names of
the poets Pampa, Basava and
Kumaravyasa and a Royal poet Chikkadevaraya.
Political and religious conditions of those periods also are described. The
author has no quarrel with those who consider Pampa’s
ancestors to be Telugus. Many characteristics of Telugu Prabandhas
are found in Pampa’s Bharata. Deviations from Vyasa’s Bharata in Pampa’s
Bharata are noteworthy.
Beauties
in Basavanna’s poetry are illustrated. Besava’s influence on Saiva Sahitya in Telugu the author says deserves a special study.
The three prominent Acharyas of Kannadigas
were Telugus. To have a clear understanding of poetic talents of Nannechoda, the author points out, an acquaintance of
Kannada literature is essential. Kumara Vyasa’s
Bharata is as popular in Kannada as Potana’s Bhagavatam in Telugu. Individual traits of Purandaradasa and Kaoakadasa are
briefly illustrated. Close affinities developed between Telugu and Kannada
literatures in the age of Kumara Vyasa. Chikkadevaraya and Mummadi Krishnaraja, both were kings, poets and patrons of Telugu
poets also. Services rendered by prominent Andhras to
the progress and enrichment of Kannada region are mentioned in the concluding chapter.
–“SANDILYA”