REVIEWS

Conflict in Sanskrit Drama: By Dr Minakshi Dalal. Somaiya Publications Private Ltd., Bombay. Price: Rs. 50-00.

Life is essentially, a struggle for existence and many conflicts determine the course of life. Art is a reflection of life and all arts, particularly drama, should reflect conflicts and even be influenced by them. Western dramatic theory, therefore, regards the element of conflict not only as an integral part of drama but as its very backbone. Sanskrit dramatic theory, however, makes no mention of conflict as an element of drama but avers that Rasa or sentiment is the soul of drama. But most Sanskrit dramas are full of struggles and clash of impulses which come under the purview of conflict. Dr (Mrs) Minakshi Dalal is perhaps the first writer to examine, in this Doctorate thesis, how far Sanskrit drama is founded on the essentiality of conflict. The result has been an eminently readable and exhaustive study of Sanskrit drama, a perusal of which will be rewarding even to those who do not wish to associate “conflict” with Sanskrit drama.

Before dealing with conflict in Sanskrit drama, the author discusses its place in Western drama in theory and practice. It was perhaps the special accent on “action” in Aristotle’s time that came to be developed in later days as “conflict” and recognized as the soul of drama by Western students of drama. Aristotle had a plethora of Greek dramas written by Sophocles, Euripides and other dramatists to work upon. The author quotes renowned critics like William Archer and Ashley Dukes to prove her point that “conflict” is “one of the most dramatic elements in life.” Passing from the classical to the romantic drama, she discusses conflict as depicted in the plays of Shakespeare, Schiller, Goethe and Ibsen.

The major part of the work is, naturally, devoted to conflict (Sangharsha) in Sanskrit drama. In chapter 2, the author discusses the element of conflict in the light of the theory of Sanskrit drama. Any discussion connected with Sanskrit drama has to begin with the Natyasastra of Bharata, the earliest text dealing with the science of drama in all its aspects. The various components of drama in general as well as the different dramatic forms described by Bharata are taken up for a detailed scrutiny. The views expressed in other connected works like Dasarupaka, Natyadarpana, Sahityadarpana and Natakalakshana, Ratnakosa are quoted at the appropriate places by way of amplification. The presence of conflict in the different forms of Sanskrit drama like the Nataka, Natika, Prakarana, Ihamriga, Dima and Vyayoga is discussed and the author concludes that “the element of conflict has secured its place even in the smallest and minutest parts of the dramatic form.”

The most absorbing part of the book is chapter 3 in which as many as twenty outstanding plays in Sanskrit, representing the various types like the Nataka, Totaka and Bhana have been screened for the purpose of deciding the presence of conflict in them in practice. The dramatists selected for screening are Bhasa, Kalidasa, Bhattanarayana, Harsha, Visakhadatta, Bhavabhuti and Sudraka. Shorter plays by some minor playwrights have also been discussed. An excellent summary of each of the plays has been furnished with the spotlight focussed on the element of conflict in the plots concerned. Dr Dalal’s conclusion is that although conflict is inevitable in drama, it occupies a place secondary to that of Rasa or sentiment which is the soul of Sanskrit drama. In the plethora of literature on Sanskrit drama, this book is unique as it is the only one which deals with “conflict” in an exhaustive way.

–T. S. PARTHASARATHI

Ramayana of Goswami Tulasi Das: By S. P. Bahadur. Jaico Publishing House, Bombay-1. Price: Rs. 20.

In 1972-’73 the four-hundredth year of Tulsi Das’s birth was celebrated throughout India. This volume published in English coincides to mark the occasion. There are passages translated from Tulasi Das’s Ramayana along with the author’s own narration of the story. Now Tulsi Das is ascribed to the year of 1497 by some and by others to 1553 for his birth. Yet one thing seems to be certain that he lived to a ripe old age and some even assign him 127 years of life on this earth. Whatever it is, it is true that his book of the Ramayana has been influencing many devoted hearts throughout India and people forget themselves in the raphsodical verses of Tulasi Das pouring out himself in unrestrained language upon his God Sriramachandra.

The language he has adopted is Avadhi, which according to scholars, was a bold departure at a time when writing in Sanskrit alone was deemed worthy of attention from the literary world. His invocatory verses in every one of the books in the Ramayana are no doubt in Sanskrit and they show that he was competent to handle Sanskrit with ease equally with Vraja Bhasha.

He has taken liberties in the narration of episodes and made deviations from Valmiki in places. In the first place he makes Lord Siva tell His consort Parvati, the entire story of the Ramayana. Changes such as the arrival of Parasurama at the court of Janaka, consigning Sita to the flames even in the forest in order that her purity may not get spoilt by the lifting of her by Ravana, the presence of Janaka on the Chitrakoota, etc., are effected with rare felicity of narration.

The author has added an epilogue to the volume in which he has provided enough matter about Tulsi Das and his famous work. The book requires reading by all for its genuine attempt to give outsiders the beauty of Tulsi Das’s immortal epic.

–K. CHANDRASEKHARAN

Ramayana–Myth or Reality: By H. D. Sankaliya. Peoples Publishing House, New Delhi. Price: Rs. 15.

Beyond an intellectual diversion, no serious purpose may be gained by an investigation of the historicity of the epic on the identity of places and geography, mentioned in the Ramayana, with those of our own times. Experience of a higher reality in the Ramayana as the grandest achievement of everlasting literary value can hardly be questioned. Its elevating theme and its appeal to the very core of our hearts as a human document are all the contributory factors for its great popularity. But knowledge of the actual physical features of both geography and ethnography as evidenced by the book, may elude any amount of critical study and lead to contradictory results even after such serious examination of the main incidents of the flora and fauna described.

Here, in two lectures, closely reasoned by the author with available data through archaeology and ethnography, the Ramayana’s date and its faithful representation of the culture and customs of the times have been critically examined. The lecturer has taken considerable pains to prove how Lanka could not have been beyond the borders of the present Madhya Pradesh, how the island could not have existed anywhere except in a big lake and that no ocean could have existed between the place where Rama and his monkey hosts stayed and the abode of Ravana, how Kishkindha was never beyond the present Chota Nagpur as clearly borne out by the existence of sal forests only in that region, how the river Godavari, of broad expanse, could not have been the same one which we now find running across the peninsula, how Ayodhya could not have had palaces of stone and marble but only buildings of mud, etc. Inferences are drawn from archaeological finds discovered recently to show that the epic drama could not have been staged on a vast sub-continent extending from the Himalayas to the present Lanka.

Anyhow the lay reader whose sense of idealism and realism, as depicted by the epic, is more than abundantly fulfilled by the supreme art of the poet, feels not much impressed or convinced by any of the theories put forward, as for instance, that Valmiki could not have known an ocean from a lake or that Kausalya’s body besmeared with dust was a valid proof or the palaces or the times were made of mud.

On the whole, we have, no doubt, much appreciation of the publication, well executed with ample notes, illustrations and references to English and Sanskrit authorities in support of the statements.

–K. CHANDKASEKHARAN

Rtu in Sanskrit Literature: By Dr V. Raghavan. Lal Bahadur Sastri Kendriya Vidya Peetha, Delhi.

A study of the idea of Rtus or seasons and the appeal of Rtu poetry in Sanskrit literature is a fascinating one, but it was not touched by any scholar up to now. Dr V. Raghavan, the renowned Sanskrit scholar, has dived deep into the ocean of all types of Sanskrit literature from Vedic times onwards and brought out shining pearls in the form of selected representative hymns and verses, describing the seasons, translated them into English and explained their importance. We have herein a variegated panoramic view of Indian seasons unveiled before us with all their hues, sounds, splendour and glory.

Sanskrit poetry unlike Greek poetry, the learned author observes, from the very beginning has a close integration and identification with Nature.” Seasons are described (1) as background for some episodes and actions as for example the hunt of Dasaradha in rains, (2) as Uddipana Vibhavas of Rasa and (3) for presenting an objective appreciation of beauty. All these three aspects are illustrated herein. The chapter entitled Philosophy of Rtu poetry is elevating and enlightening. According to Vedantadesika “all seasons are aspects of Time, being expressions of all-comprehensive Supreme Being and therefore equally enjoyable...It is the realisation of this one ultimate all-comprehensive Being, which is the fountain-head of Beauty and the basis of all expression of Beauty, that fills the heart of the poet and suffuses all his expression; this is the philosophy of Rtu Kavya.” It is now for the lovers of Nature and Sanskrit literature to make these pearls their own.

–B. KUTUMBA RAO

John Keats-His Mind and Work: By B. Chatterjee. Orient Longman, Madras-2. Price: Rs. 15-00.

The book is an intimate study of Keats, a romantic poet of 19th century. The corpus of published journal-letters, odes, sonnets and poems can be deemed to be exteriorisations of interior monologues. Any creation is a sort of an allegory.

In its early phases, Keats’ muse built up ‘Bowers of Bliss’, dallied with voluptuous fays and had its surfeit of music of winged fraternity and rhythmic cadences.

Imaginative visions were later held as mere idealistic haze. Mythology with all its rich spiritual symbols of an expiring paganism, Nature and classical traditions ceased to inspire the poet’s poetic idiom.

Dream-worlds are envisaged as ‘bad’ and ‘smokeable’. The human scene with its predicament is identified with Reality. The ‘ultimate’ beyond flux and mutability is not taken into account. Poetry stops to be escapist or transcendental. It is to interpret life and its anomalies, interfused with pain and suffering. Salvation is equated with spiritual freedom obtained through comprehension and assimilation of tragic mystery.

In Endymion, the union of the hero with Cynthia emphasises the idea, that pairs of opposites–the ideal and the actual growth and decay–are transient manifestations of one animating principle.

The Keatsian view that mutability and death annul progress, is wide of the truth. His “Ode to Seasons” testifies to order in the midst of change and to renewal of life in the midst of decay. The concept of “eternal winter” of the poet is anti-reason.

With all his incertitudes, Keats is declared to be of the view that a new religion is needed to voice forth the deepest urges of complex modern consciousness. But it can be suggested that primitive faith in (a) a wise passiveness (b) or a withdrawal from sordid strife at temporal level (c) or a transcendent perception that antinomies, “half seen” are ephemeral and that one vital energy persists through endless “creations and destroyings” (page 332) will ensure the “still centre” or “fellowship with essence”, to benighted existence on earth, “forfeit to a confin’d doom.”

–K. SUBBA RAO

Raja Rao: By M. K. Naik. Twayne publishers, Inc., New York.

Sponsored by Professor Sylvia E. Bowman (General Editor) and Professor M. L. Sharma (Editor) of “Twayne’s World Author Series”, Dr M. K. Naik is assigned to write a book on Raja Rao for the Series. The book is full of details mostly based on correspondence, conversations and discussions, with Raja Rao.

It is punctuated into seven chapters. In chapter I, Professor Naik gives detailed biographical data of Raja Rao–his native village, parents, education, marriage, sojourn and ‘literary creed.’ Chapter 2 presents details of his writing in ‘native accents.’ Chapter 3 deals with his shorter fiction–The Cow of the Barricades and Other Stories–which is indeed analytical. Professor Naik aptly predicts that “the short-story imposed irksome restrictions upon him. That is why probably he has preferred the limitless freedom of the novel in his maturer work”: Kanthapura, The Serpent and the Rope and The Cat and Shakespeare.

In the following three chapters (4-6), Professor Naik flings into the battle all the gathered details concerning the novels. The Serpent and the Rope alone is elaborated over nearly half of the eighty-three pages. The interpretation should have been deeper. In fact, there is profound continuity, and the three novels form a metaphysical trilogy. Raja Rao himself says that for him ‘literature is sadhana’: the trilogy, traces his own sadhana. The protagonists in the trilogy are his own self-portraits. In the trilogy Raja Rao illuminates the three-fold path to Glory, or celebrates the three-tier edifice of the Absolute.

The concluding chapter is to illustrate Raja Rao’s achievement in evolving the Indo-Anglian metaphysical novel and a suitable style. Professor Naik compares finally Raja Rao with R. K. Narayan and Mulk Raj Anand, and tends to give Raja Rao as novelist the first place in the hierarchy of the ‘Big Three’.

The book appears to be more a chronicle of details than ‘critical testament’. Yet it has a raison d’ etre as a guide on Raja Rao for the student of Indo-Anglian literature.

–Dr K. V. S. MURTI

Classics in Chinese Philosophy: Edited by Wade Baskin. Philosophical Library, New York. Price: 20 Dollars.

This careful selection from the writings of famous philosophers and thinkers of China, from Confucius (551-478 B. C.) to Mao Tse Tung in the present century, throws a flashlight on the general mind of the Chinese. The Editor prefaces each chapter with an introductory and explanatory note which helps to maintain the link in the understanding of the tradition.

As one runs through the pages, one is struck by the variety of subjects on which the Chinese seers and poets have spoken. Sociology, polity, statecraft, culture, religion, humanism, education, economics and allied topics form the themes of this interesting and educative compilation.

–M. P. PANDIT

Jains Philosophy: By Mohan Lal Mehta. P. V. Research Institute, Varanasi-5. Price: Rs. 10.

There are enough books on the religion and religious practices of the Jains. But understandable formulation of the philosophy of Jainism are few. The present work, giving an outline of this philosophy, is interesting and lucid.

After giving a brief history of Jainism, the author surveys the religious and philosophical literature of this faith and then passes on to the subject proper. The Jaina theory of reality, six fundamental substances, the nature of the soul, matter and its constitution, theory of knowledge, relativity of judgment (syadvada), the doctrine of Karma are the main topics dealt with in these chapters. The treatment is both general and scholarly.

–M. P. PANDIT

An Outline of Principal Methods of Meditation: Translated from the Chinese by Sujitkumar Mukhopadhyaya. Published by Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, Pondicherry-2. Price: Rs. 2-50.

We are told that when the Chinese attacked Kuchi in 383 A. D., they took away with them to China the ramous Buddhist scholar Kumarajiva. Kumarajiva spent the rest of his life in China translating into Chinese a large number of Buddhist works. He had more than three thousand Chinese monks as his disciples.

The present work is a Chinese composition of Kumarajiva, an old treatise on Dhyana translated into English by Professor Mukhopadhyaya. The Professor has written a learned introduction and annotated the text with helpful footnotes.

This short treatise speaks of nine methods of meditation. Of these the first four are the stages that are attained in the realm of form, the next four are attainable in the realm of the formless and the ninth is the last stage where not only sensations or consciousness, but also all the mental properties are suppressed with the mind itself.

In order to cultivate an aversion towards physical beauty one should contemplate one’s body or another’s body as a body of bones. This contemplation on the skeleton is said to be a powerful method to get over lust and physical attraction.

–S. SHANKARANARAYANAN

Yoga–World-wide: By Dr Swami Gitananda, Editor and Smt. Meenakshi Devi, Assistant Editor, Anandashram, Pondicherry-8.

Here is a mine of information regarding some aspects of Yoga, Yoga teachers, Yoga schools and Yoga clinics in India and abroad. The volume is divided into four sections. The first section contains tributes. The second gives information about Yoga orders and Sadhu sects, Yoga standards, cost of studying Yoga, women in Yoga, Yoga as found in India and in other parts of the world. There are nineteen essays on Yoga by eminent persons in the third section. Essays on Mudras. Yoga and Western psychology, E. S. P. scope of Yoga, Yoga and mental health and Uddiyana and Nauli Bandhas are instructive and informative. The fourth section entitled “Directory” gives full information about Yoga correspondence courses, Yoga hospitals, Yoga museums, Yoga meditation, Yoga teachers in India and Yoga centres and Yoga teachers in about 38 foreign countries. Photos of eminent Yogis, illustrations of some Yoga Asanas and Yoga Mudras add to the usefulness of the volume. Our congratulations to the publishers of this volume which is useful to the students and lovers of Yoga and to the seekers of health–physical, mental and spiritual–through Yoga practices.

–B. KUTUMBA RAO

Vedanta Paribhasha: Edited with an English Translation. By S. S. Suryanarayana Sastry. The Adyar Library and Research Centre, Adyar, Madras-20.

Dharma Raja Adhvarin’s “Vedanta Paribhasha” in Sanskrit is as Dr S. Radhakrishnan points out in his foreword to this work, “a great classic on the Advaita theory of knowledge and Metaphysics”. It is a standard text-book for students of Advaita Philosophy. The Adyar Library has done signal service to the students of Philosophy by bringing out a second edition of this English translation written by a Professor of profound scholarship and rich experience. Though there are some other translations, this one has its own merits.

The translation is in fluent language, with apt technical terms. The explanatory and comparative notes given at the end of the text and the introduction wherein a comparative study of the views of Bhamati and Vivarana schools regarding Pratyaksha and Jiva is found are impressive. The printing and get-up are excellent. We commend the translation to all students of Advaita Philosophy.

–B. KUTUMBA RAO

In the Sun and the Rain: By Bishnu Dey. People’s Publishing House, New Delhi. Price: Rs. 25.

Dey in his essays on Aesthetics brings out the views of eminent writers of 19th century on art and literature–Britishers and Bengalis. Art in this book is dissected into Traditional and Modern; Western and Eastern. These divisions look unreal because the nature and scope of art will not change whether it is in the East or West.

As Dey writes, values of trade and empire debase art. Happily India is spared the charisma of “the mechanical bride” (page 78). The so-called Western Realism opens Pandora’s Box The greed of capitalism de-humanises. Man makes inhuman use of man. The sanctity of life is sacrificed to lust. Nature is defaced for raw materials. For markets wars are waged. Genocides–cultural and racial–become a common occurrence of today. No brows are raised at these atrocities except in the interests of self. Naturally art works reflect the limitations, heroisms, the tendencies and idiosyncracies of the age.

On the continent, T. S. Eliot’s “complication in economics and machinery”–episode of capitalism (page 84)–raises nightmares. A Devil’s Brood was left loose. Art was denuded of objectivity. It became a refuge for pure lyricism (Dadaism), self-exteriorisation (cubism and symbolism) and the Dreamworlds of surrealism. Riotous subjectivism had its field day.

Dey, essays on aesthetics are scholarly and informative. And it is a pleasure for an aesthete to make a special study of the book.

–K. SUBBA RAO

The Voice of Truth: General Editor: Shriman Narayan. Navajivan Publishing House, Ahmadabad-14. Price: Rs. 8.00

This is a collection of the choicest writings of Mahatma Gandhi on a variety of topics. The first part of the volume contains some of the important speeches delivered by Mahatma Gandhi on historic occasions. The second part includes selections of his thoughts on Philosophy, Religion, Culture Art, Literature, Science, Economics, Politics, Sociology and Education.

The volume contains precious pithy sayings and wholesome advices worth ruminating over, and most of them have relevancy not only to these days but for all times. “True beauty, after all, consists in purity of heart.”

This is a good hand-book of reference for Gandhiji’s views on all important subjects.

–B. K. SASTRI

Jnanadeva: By P. Y. Deshpande. Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi. Price: Rs. 2-50.

This monograph on Jnanadeva is in the series, “Makers of Indian Literature”, published by Sahitya Akademi. Jnanadeva was a mystic poet who had within his short life of twenty-one years (1275-1296) written three important philosophical works–Jnaneshwari, Anubhavamruta, Changdev-Pasashti and many other lyrics. All these works are rated high in the early Marathi poetry.

Jnaneshwari is a commentary on the Gita which Jnanadeva described as “Samadhi-dhana. Anubhavamruta is his testament in which poetry, philosophy and life are fused. Changdev-Pasashti is a summary of his teachings written for the benefit of Changdeva, an egotistic Yogi who was converted to the path of Jnanadeva. Jnanadeva and his disciple, Namadeva, had also revived the Bhaki Marga (or ‘Warkari Panth’) in Maharashtra. Thus the contribution of this ‘maker of Indian literature’ is in the field of philosophy.

Sri Deshpande provides useful biographical information, and copious extracts from Jnanadeva’s works. He also gives his own erudite interpretations.

–E. NAGESWARA RAO

Overcoming Handicaps: Edited by Arthur Wallace.. The P. T. I. Book Company, Bangalore-4. Price: Rs. 5.

The author presents in this book some profiles of persons, who, though afflicted with poverty, ill-health, deformities and though deprived of proper schooling, came up in life and made quite a noise in their times.

Young readers will certainly, catch the infection of healthy influences that the sketches in the book diffuse, when they go through them and may turn new leaves in their lives too.

All the subjects of studies, made by the author, rose from small beginnings to high positions by sheer self-education and by dint of hard work undaunted by infirmities and set-backs which, instead of discouraging them, fortified their determination to pursue their efforts and reach the goal whatever the cost might be.

–K. S. SARMA

The Secret of Man and World: By K. M. Sastry. Swarajya Printing Works, Swarajya Vihar, Padmanagar, Secunderabad-25. Price: Rs. 10.

The book prescribes a nostrum for one afflicted with ‘Samsara’. It is awareness of True self. The ‘Manana’ of ‘Aham Brahmasmi,’ is said to induce it. The fragmented ‘Jeevi’ identifies itself with body and mind out of ‘Bhranti’. It takes the apparent world as Real and leading a sensual life it gets caught in the web of life and goes on taking births. When knowledge dawns on it, that it is ‘Paramatma’, it earns finally its release. Then the work is understood as ‘Adhyastha’ and God, its ‘Adhishtana’. This ‘Gnana’ annihilates existence. And the entrapped soul merges in Cosmic intelligence: Sat, Chit, Ananda.

The reader is treated to an exegesis of Sankara’s Advaita in the book and supplies a desideratum both for a scholar and a layman.

–S. R.

Foreign Friends of India’s Freedom: By P. Kodanda Rao. P. T. I. Book Company Bangalore –4. Price: Rs. 12.

The book is a sort of monograph on voluntary and dedicated labour undertaken by large-hearted and noble-minded foreign friends of India in aid of its struggle for Swaraj. Though of different nationality these knights-errant, whether in or out of office, did their part as if in compliance with a roster and achieved a warm niche in the hearts of Indians.

Lord Bentinck, Macaulay, Ripon, the righteous Montague, Fawcett, Wedderburn, Lord Hardinge, Henry Cotton, and other celebrities, whom India could never forget, identified themselves with India like sons of the soil and made commendable sacrifices, counselled and guided the Congress, till J. Ramsay Macdonald got enacted the Government of India Act of 1935 and finally Atalee hastened the transfer of power to responsible Indians on the lines of ‘Divide and Quit’, a true-to-nature offspring of ‘Divide and Rule’.

It cannot be gainsaid that without the big hand, extended by the British Patriots of India, India would have a hard-time of it, to see the finis of its marathon fight against conservative die-hardism; win its independence and take its due place among the sovereign nations of the world.

The radio talks of P. Kodanda Rao, which were printed in a book form, are both informative and educative and deserve a place in a public or private library.

–S. R.

Isavasyopanishad with translation: By Prof. M. Hiriyanna. Kavyalaya Publishers, Mysore. Price: Rs. 3.

The first edition of this work was published sixty years ago. This is the second edition. This edition contains the text in Devanagari and Roman characters with Sri Sankaracharya’s commentary in Sanskrit. The text and the commentary are translated into chiselled and charming English by the renowned savant and Sanskrit scholar, Hiriyanna. In a brief introduction in English he summarises the teachings of the Upanishad. Notes taken from Anandagiri have also been added wherever necessary. What more does a student of Philosophy need? It is for him to study and make the subject matter his own.

–B. K. SASTRI

The Vision of Atman: By Swami Sachchidanandendra Saraswati. Adhyatma Prakasha Karyalaya, Holenarasipur, Mysore State. Price: Rs. 2.

Yagnavalka’s initiation of Maitreyi into the intuition of Reality, found in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is the subject matter of this work. Sri Swamiji defined and explained what Darsana, Sravana, Manana and Nididhyasana mean according to the Upanishads as interpreted by Sankara and proved with authority how the sub-commentaries are in direct opposition to Sankara. Relative importance of the three means also is discussed in a separate chapter.

We heartily commend this critical and vivacious writing to all students of Sankara’s philosophy?

–B. K. SASTRI

Sankara’s Clarification of certain Vedantic Points: By Swami Sachchidanandendra Saraswathi. Adhyatma Prakasha Karyalaya, Holenarasipur, Mysore State. Price: Rs. 1-50.

What exactly do the words, the Atman, Vidya and Avidya, Creation, Maya and Causation, Isvara, Bondage and Release, according to Sankara, denote and connote. What is the method adopted by Sankara in his teachings? What do the words Sanyasa and Yoga mean? To have a clear and unambiguous answers to these questions one cannot do better than reading this work of Swamiji whose writings have clarity for their soul. Mustering strength and support from Sri Sankara’s Bhashya, Swamiji proves that “the witnessing consciousness in each of us is the Atman. The notion of having the semblance of a false concept is Avidya. Intuition of Atman by Atman himself is Vidya. The author declares that the theory of origination of appearance from Avidya a pet doctrine of the post Sankaras is conspicuous by its absence in the Bhashya. The doctrine of three grades of existence is quite unknown to the Sutra Bhashya. Brahman when it is made the subject of enquiry as Reality is Para Brahman, when it is recommended as an object of meditation is Apara Brahman, and is Isvara when it is thought of as the cause and ruler of the phenomenal word. Maya and Avidya are not identical. Maya is the illusory causal seed or the world due to Avidya (Adhyasa).” The book is indispensable to a student of Sankara’s philosophy.

–B. K. SASTRI

The Wonder of Philosophy: Rev. Francis J. Klauder. Philosophical Library Inc., 15, East 40th St., New York, N. Y. 10016; $ 6.00.

In this excellently written and beautifully produced little book of 75 pages, the author (who is dean of Philosophy at Don Bosco College, Newton, New jersey) reviews philosophers and philosophic thought with a two-fold purpose (i) to give an outline of the principal positions that are held by the so-called “perennial philosophy” of which St. Thomas Acquinas is one of the chief exponents, (ii) to survey, however briefly, the thought of main figures of Western Philosophy. There is a selected glossary and a valuable “synthesis” at the end.

The book is in three parts. Part I deals with each branch of philosophy: logic, epistemology, metaphysics, cosmology, rational psychology, the philosophy of God, ethics. Part II is concerned with the periods of philosophy–Greek, medieval and modern. Part III headed “Philosophers” briefly summarises the thought of 32 Western Philosophers and also gives concisely the key ideas of Oriental Philosophy–Chinese, Indian and Japanese.

The philosophic synthesis for contemporary man attempted by the author in the last chapter, is a neat summation in the light of the survey before.

–T. V. VISWANATRA AIYAR

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa: By D. S. B. Varnekar & Dr R. N. Roy. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Chowpatty, Bombay-7. Price: Rs. 5-00.

‘Ramakrishna-Paramahamseeyan’ is a Hymn to the saint. A few slokas are added in adoration of his helpmeet Saradadevi and disciple Vivekananda.

Portraits of his appearance and phases of devotion are intimately drawn. No sentimental colouring spoils the purity of the vignettes. His visions of Radha, Mohini, Jesus are direct and mythical. In his imitations of Hanuman (slokas 30, 31) is expressed the intensity of his devotion to Rama.

Such a state was the life of Paramahamsa: a concretised calm, passionless and emotionless. The book was originally written in Sanskrit by S. B. Varnekar and it was rendered into English by R. N. Roy. On Roy’s own admission, the translation is not literal. Yes, the credit goes to Baratiya Vidya Bhavan for having sponsored the publication of the book with its Sanskrit text and English translation.

–K. S. RAO

A Drop of Rain: By Sharf Mukaddam. Sindhu Publications Private Ltd., Bombay-1. Price: Rs. 15.

The book unfolds, before the reader, a story in vivid detail against the background of India’s partition and communal riotings, of a gruesome murder of the Zamindar of Gurki in Punjab and his second wife, committed by Dr Niranjan Lall, a young anaesthetist from Agra, posing himself as a heart specialist, while the Zamindar’s son Arjunkumar, by his first wife, was away in England pursuing his medical studies. It was an obsession with the doctor, to put innocents to death when his usual fits are on.

Kumar returns to India, after he had done his course. He lands in Bombay with his chum Dinesh; contacts a hotelier Baba Gurucharan Singh; learns from him the whereabouts of his parents; dashes to Delhi to search for them; visits every nook and corner with the help of one Paliwal; finds, after wearisome peregrinations, Mehri, a maid-servant lying ill in Lady Cursetji Hospital; fishes out from her news of the death of his parents at the hands of Doctor Lall; pursues the killer, in the guise of a refugee, to Reddipuram in the South, where the specialist’s services were required to treat one Pulla Reddy, a tobacco tycoon, suffering from cardiac trouble; stays there, like a family member, in Pulla Reddy’s mali Karim’s house; offer himself as a chaffeur to Nagaraj, a nephew of the tobacco king to whom was affianced Urmila, the daughter of the patient; exposes Nagaraj and Dr Lall who enter into a contract to finish off the Reddy and share the spoils; sees to the arrest of Lall while on the lethal jab in collusion with the half-hearted Nagaraj: and finally it blessed with the good fortune of having Urmila as his partner in life.

Happily Pulla Reddy is saved from death by asphyxiation. And outside ‘Meghadootham’, the palatial pile of Reddy, the rain pours in sheets: an auspicious finale to depressing events that have overtaken Kumar in succession.

All the characters in the novel are well-drawn. Karim and Urmila, among them, are both sensitive and understanding personalities. Mundappa, the sub-inspector, is an exemplary police official, who corrects himself, when errors and lapses in his duties are pointed out. The reader is put in suspense about two villains; Nagaraj and Lall.

The book is simply gripping. And for a budding author, it promises a rewarding future.

–K. SUBBA RAO

The Cross and the Crown: By V. Paranjoti. Bharatiya Vidya Bhayan, Bombay-7. Price: Rs. 4.

The Cross and the Crown is a paean for suffering. Out of agony take birth, noblest sentiments and highest thoughts. It awakens the spiritual dimension in man and universalises him to the extinction of his fractional aspect. Non-violence is its unfailing supporting hand. It is through such unresisting struggle, Negroes of America could wrest some of their civil rights, from unwilling heights.

Dr Paranjoti, in her slim volume, narrates, harrowing discriminations and disabilities, that niggers suffered once, and suffer still at the hands of their masters.

–K. S. SARMA

The Range of Ethics: Edited by Harold H. Titus and Morris T. Keeton. East-West Press, Pvt. Ltd., Delhi. Price: Rs. 7-50.

‘To be’ is death. And ‘becoming’ is life. Ethics is the never-ending in-between processes, leading to the attainment of moral heights. These comprise ideals and values, that influence lofty attitudes and patterns of high thinking. A conscious and conscientious existence can be said to be ethical.

With so much of moral enlightenment of today it is deplorable to witness instances of moral depravity like Hiroshima and Nagasaki, victims of inconsiderate bombing. They stand out in sharp contrast to astounding achievements in the realms of science and technology. And what is wanting to the present civilisation is a compassionate heart.

When power and pelf are aggressive in the name of nationalism, when production ties itself into cartels, when trade develops a monopolistic outlook and when aid is a smoke-screen for crude motives of exploitation, there can be no salvation for Ethics unless the base self of an individual or a nation sheds its grossness and accommodates itself to the larger interests of this community of mankind.

The book is nicely got up and is a valuable companion for bibliophile.

–RAU

The Idea of Revenge in Shaklespeare with special reference to Hamlet: By Jagannath Chakravarthy. Jadavpur University, Calcutta-32. Price: Rs. 20.

The leit-motif of the book is the concept of Revenge in Shakespeare’s plays. The study starts with ‘Gorbaduc’ and ‘Spanish Tragedy’ where, retaliation and merciless punishment take the form of Revenge. And in contrast, a view is advanced, that in ‘Shakespeare’ justice is tempered with mercy and revenge is given an ethical quality and a conscience. But facts tell a different tale.

The cold-blooded murders of Duncan and Caesar are evocative of ‘talion’ in its cruder aspect. And no public cause instigates the crime. Claudius in ‘Hamlet’ is one up in disposing of his brother and having his wife Gertrude for his bed-mate.

Hamlet attempts in the play scene and closet scene, to drive home the enormity of the gruesome offence to the King and the Queen. But his moral adventures fall flat. In the end he discovers that he is out of joint with the times. The ‘antiself’ in him prevails. And he turns a revenger. His contemplation of life makes obvious that there is an unseen presence, shaping and ends of humanity and men are only watchers of the eternal play of Good and Evil.

Shakespeare’s historical plays are said to demonstrate the axiom that ‘time future contains the time past’. The death and fall of royal protagonists (Richard II, III, King John, Henry VI) are shown as Heaven’s Revenge. Still, the revenge is motivated by family feuds and personal vendetta and blood cries for blood and death craves for death.

Even these plays can be deemed to be ethical outsides with moral filth packed inside, only a few characters like Portia, Desdemona, Hermoine stand out as moral eminences–testifying to the ethic of suffering and mercy.

Such angelic presences as drawn in the plays make the world a Garden of Eden or a bucolic Arcadia.

–RAU

Vidyapati: By Ramanath Jha. Price: Rs. 2-50.

Pothana: By Dr D. Venkatavadhani. Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi. Price: Rs. 2-50.

These two monographs are brought out in the series of “Makers of Indian Literature” by the Sahitya Akademi.

Vidyapati Thakur, who was acclaimed as Abhinava Jayadeva, was the greatest Maithili poet and lived between A. D. 1350 to 1460. His songs are mainly of three categories: love songs, songs devoted to social functions and Siva. There are hair-a-dozen songs that depict the sentiment of Santa also. Of these his love songs have won universal approbation, influenced the poets of Assam and Bengal, and even Chaitanya was captivated by the Beauty of these penetrating and revealing songs which are full of miniature-like descriptions of feminine charm and grace. This brochure provides informative material about Vidyapati and his works. Inclusion of translations of some beautiful lyrics at the end of the brochure will enhance the value of the book and enable the reader to have a clearer appreciation of the poet.

Dr D. V. Avadhani a renowned scholar and critic did full justice to the great poet Pothana in this brochure which contains a historical, critical, comparative and illustrative study of Pothana’s works, personality and poetry.

Pothana’s life, date and place are dealt with in the first chapter. The second chapter is devoted to a study and appreciation of Pothana’s minor works Veerabhadra Vijayam, Bhogini Dandakam and Narayana Satakam. Place and importance of Srimad Bhagavatam in the Purana literature and the import and significance of the first verse in the Bhagavatam in Sanskrit are explained in the third chapter. Eight methods of translation adapted by Pothana is the subject matter of the next chapter. This masterly study in a short compass is beautiful. In another brilliant chapter entitled “Stories and Upakhyanas in the Bhagavata”, stories of Dhruva, Prahlada, Gajendramoksha and Rantideva etc., with the morals suggested therein are described in a nutshell. Bhagavatha Bhakti as found in the Bhagavatam in main and in the Naradasutras and Bhakti Rasayanam is dealt with in the sixth chapter. Definition and types of Bhakti are expounded herein with illustrations. A critical estimate of Pothana’s poetry with suitable examples is attempted in the seventh chapter. Pothana’s personality is the theme of the last chapter. Bibliography and glossary at the end of the book are useful.

The book is a comprehensive and critical study of Pothana and nothing desirable is left out. We commend this work to all lovers of literature.

–B.

Social Structure and values in later Smritis: By Dr Shrirama. Indian Publications, 3 British Indian Street, Calcutta-1. Price: Rs. 35.

This work brings together in one volume the main elements underlying the prescriptions and prohibitions laid down in the Smriti texts ascribed to Parasara, Narada, Brihaspati and Katyayana (1000 A. D. to 600 A. D.). Discussing under the headings of Family, Marriage, Women, Social hierarchy, Kingship, Property, Justice, Law etc., the author points out how basic foundations had been laid in these Smritis for the organisation of life in such a manner that there could be no conflict between the claims of the individual and the welfare or the society. He underlines the importance of the Joint Family system as the link between the individual and the collectivity. He gives a rational explanation of the institution of varna and jati and its contribution to the evolution of society. His note on the balanced and integrative character of this social philosophy is both satisfying and illuminating.

A book that all zealous social reformers must study.

–M. P. PANDIT

Path of Pure Consciousness: By N. Murugesa Mudaliar. Published under the auspices of Sri Kumara Devar Mutt, Vriddhachalam, Price: Rs. 10.

An excellent, scholarly and comprehensive edition of Suddha Sadhakam of Sri Kumara Deva (17th century A. D.). The treatise, originally in Tamil, has been translated, annotated upon and provided with a helpful background by Sri Mudaliar with his usual clarity of mind and directress of style. The commentary of Sri Chokkalinga Swami is also translated and given with the original text of 95 verses.

The main work is devoted to the exposition of the Mahavakya tat tvam asi in the light of a revelation vouchsafed to him in a spiritual experience. He takes asi as the key to the realisation of the Self or Pure Consciousness. The Sadhana in uniting oneself with the Reality (That) is embedded in asi. The unity so achieved is then interpreted in terms of the Linganga alkya of the Virashaiva Philosophy.

A notable contribution of this work is the concept of Para Mukti in which the body also participates in the liberation along with the soul. Sri Mudaliar takes pains to trace this theme in the writings and utterances of many saints and traditions in the South and discusses the several possibilities of attaining this kaya-siddhi, perfection and sublimation of the body.

–M. P. PANDIT

TELUGU

Uttara Harivamsamu of Naacana Somanatha: Edited by P. Yasoda Reddy. A. P. Sahitya Akademy, Kala Bhavan, Hyderabad-4. Price: Rs. 5-00.

Naacana Somanatha (Circa 1344 A. D.) is one of the most difficult among the major poets of Telugu literature. His only work extant is Utara Harivamsa. He is said to have composed four other works namely, Vasantavilasa, Harivilasa, Haravilasa and Aadipurana. Some verses from these works are cited by Laakshanikas in Telugu. It is possible that the poet, in the process of graduation to Hariharanathatattwa in his Uttaraharivamsa wrote two separate kavyas, one on Hari and another on Hara and no confusion need be attributed to the Laakshanikas in this regard.

Whether Somanatha wrote the Poorva Harivamsa has been a controversial point. While there is no such work extant the early verses of Uttara Harivamsa give clear evidence in support of the view that the poet wrote the Poorva Harivamsa despite the fact that those verses are mere translations of slokas from Uttarabhaga of Sanskrit Harivamsa.

The present edition of Ultara Harivamsa, under review, edited by P. Yasoda Reddy has had the advantage of a specialist’s attention. The editor is known to have specialised on this poet and one would have hoped for an illuminating clearing of cobwebs and a thorough discussion of the poetic excellences claimed by the poet in his colo-phones. However the lengthy introduction is disappointing. Arguments advanced to show that Somanatha did not write Poorva Harivamsa are far-fetched and unconvincing. Nor did the editor try to explain the poet’s claim to (1) Sakalabhashiaa bhushanatva (2) Sahitya rasa poshanatva (3) Samvidhaana chakravartitva and (4) Naveena guna sanaadhatva. These cannot be empty claims and they are not to be taken in the layman’s sense but need examining in the light of Alankara Saatra. In this respect it has to be said that Telugu literary criticism has been pedestrian in its approach.

Of the two stray readings that the editor has discussed in her introduction, “Muru paasamulu” is certainly a gain to the reader while the same cannot be said of the other. In the place of ‘tana’ ( 6-226) suggested by the editor ‘tanu’ can be a better substitute.

The edition could have gained even by an attempt to give a gloss for some of the more difficult and obsolete words at least.

–Prof. SALVA KRISHNA MURTHY

Kavita Kadambamu: By Viswasundaramma. Mallavarapu Publications, Dwarakanagar, Visakhapatnam-4. Price: Rs. 6.

This collection, consisting of two hundred and thirty-five pages, offers to the reader the work of a gifted poetess who was born in 1899 and died in 1949.

The poems are classified aptly into five groups: Personal expressions, story poems, tributes to the great, national and social themes and celebration of the divine.

The late Viswasundaramma was gifted with fine poetic sensibility and readily responded to the various urges and drives that craved for expression during those momentous times when she trod upon this earth. Like the acolian lyre her sensitive spirit vibrated to the touch of every passing event. She came under the magic spell of Gandhi, defied the imperialist might, courted arrest and rendered great service to the depressed and the oppressed sections of the community. She was far from being “an idle singer on an empty day” because she entered the arena of active politics and sought fulfilment in the sphere of social amelioration.

The poetesB was a prominent member of the Romantic school which vitalised and enriched Telugu poetry during the first half of our century. Her poems sprang from the inspired heart because it was a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings. There is a shadow of some mysterious sadness lingering over several poems. Like the Romantic poets she possessed the alchemic touch which could transmute anguish into rapture.

Poems addressed to Lord Krishna, as well as Gandhi, reveal her spirit of devotion which imparts a tone of elevation. Many of her short poems reveal her lyrical fervour and her ardent admiration of the beauties of Nature. Rivers, mountains flowers and birds appear in her lyrics with a fresh glow because she had enriched them with the gleam of a light that never was on land or stream.

This posthumous publication offers the work of a gifted poetess of Andhra whom “posterity shall not willingly let die.”

–Dr C. N. SASTRY

Brahma Sutramu (of Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishna): Telugu translation by Ratnakara Bala Raju, 9/187 Guljarpet, Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh. Price: Rs. 40.

The original work is not just another commentary in English on the Brahma Sutras. It has some unique features. The scholarly introduction covering about 335 pages is an intellectual treat to the readers. Philosophical theories propounded by twelve prominent Acharyas from Sri Sankara to Baladeva are given here. The nature of the world, soul, God and Moksha according to different schools of thought is dealt with. The chapters on Karma and rebirth deserve special study. In all these chapters, views of occidental philosophers are also presented. Many of these views are found in agreement with those of our philosophers. The relevancy of the teachings of Brahma Sutras to the modern times is also pointed out. Views of other Acharyas wherever they differ are quoted. Opinions of Western philosophers are compared with. Thus herein we have a historical, comparative and a critical exposition of Brahma Sutra, and this is the unique feature of this work.

The translator has done a commendable job. This work is a must to all Telugu libraries.

–B.

DILIP

We have pleasure in welcoming “Dilip”, a bimonthly from Bombay. It is devoted to the study of the deeper aspects of religion, science and society, emphasising the heritage and culture of India. The journal owes its origin to His Holiness Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Swami of Kanchi who gave its name and it is being published at his command.

Judging from the three or four numbers before us we find that the journal, which is designed to reach the modern mind “–particularly the one that has grown cut off from ancient traditions and has been brought up in a climate of unbelief and so-called ‘rationalism’–” will have a purposeful and bright future.

The journal is being published by Sudakshina Trust (126-A Dhuruvadi, Bombay-25) under the editorship of R. V. Raghavan. The annual subscription is Rs. 15.

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