REVIEWS
Ancient Indian culture
and Civilisation, by K. C. Chakravarti, M.A. (Vora &
Co., Publishers, 3, Round Building, Kalbadevi Road, Bombay. 2. Price Rs. 9-8-0)
“The
greatness of India is not to be found solely–not even mainly–in the
achievements of her warriors and kings but in her literature, philosophy and
art, in short, in the cultural sphere.” Most of the standard text-books
prescribed for history in the general education course deal mainly with the
political history. Researches have been carried on in recent times and much
valuable information gathered regarding ancient Indian Culture and its
evolution. The contributions of India in the remote past in the fields of art,
architecture, town-planning, administration, politics, education, religion, philosophy
and literature have been assessed, and many big volumes have been written by
specialists in the different branches. But these are not within easy reach of
the, general reader who may be interested keenly in culture and the cultural
history of India, and yet without any background in history. This handy volume
therefore serves a very useful purpose for the general reader in providing a
manual of ancient Indian culture and civilisation within a small compass and in
easy, simple, lucid language. As Dr. jayakar, the renowned scholar, points out
in his valuable Foreward, the author has sought to trace the unity and
continuity of Indian culture for over 5,000 years, bringing out all the various
aspects of Indian history and culture and the unifying factors behind it. It is
really a remarkable achievement on the part of the author to have managed to
bring out the main lines of development of India’s cultural history, without
losing sight of its essential unity and continuity, while at the same time
giving the most up-to-date information, based on literary, historical and
archaeological researches of even very recent years, regarding the contribution
of ancient India not only in the fields of art, architecture etc., but also,
perhaps to the agreeable surprise of the general reader, in mathematics,
astronomy, chemistry and medicine. He has also done justice to special topics
like India’s contact with Greece, the spread of Indian religion, philosophy,
sciences, and art in Europe, Asia and South-East Asia, and the contribution of
South India to the main stream of Indian culture.
Similar
volumes dealing with the cultural history of India, tracing the evolution of
Indian culture through the Muslim British periods upto the present day, will be
equally welcome to the public, and it is to be hoped the enterprising
publishers will endeavour to meet that need very soon.
The
Appendix giving statistical information regarding the languages of India, and
the table tracing the affinity of the various Indo-European languages, and the
Bibliography and the Index at the end are all well-conceived, and the paper,
get-up and printing are attractive, though one cannot help regretting the
numerous misprints, which are covered by the Errata running over four pages of
two columns each.
M.S.K.
The Indo-Asian Culture
Volume I, No. 1. July, 1952 (Published quarterly by the
Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Hyderabad House, New Delhi. Annual
Subscription Rs. 4)
“The
genius of the Indian people has found its happiest and perhaps its highest
expression in literature, philosophy and art.” The crying need of the war-weary
modern world is international peace based on a correct understanding and
appreciation of mutual differences in outlook and ways of life, modes of
thought and aspiration. The institution of the Indian Council for Cultural
Relations, with the object of establishing, reviving and strengthening cultural
relations between India and other countries, by promoting a wider knowledge and
appreciation of their languages and literatures and arts, and establishing
close contacts between the Universities and other cultural institutions, is
therefore in keeping with India’s genius and the needs of the time.
The
Council has already sponsored two quarterlies, one in Arabic and the other in
Persian, for exchange of cultural kpowledge and understanding with our
neighbours on the West. This new venture is therefore only a further step
towards extension of the effort, meant primarily for our neighbours in
South-East and Eastern Asia. Only, in this case, more than in the other, the
cultural understanding and co-operation aimed at is only the revival and
strengthening of friendly relations which we have maintained consistently
through the centuries, from the beginning of recorded history.
The first number of the journal under review is introduced to the public with a Foreward by the President of the I.C.C.R. Maulana Azad, messages of good-will from the President and Vice-President of the Union of India as well as from Their Excellencies, the Diplomatic Representatives in India of Burma, Ceylon, Indonesia and Thailand, and a statement on ‘the Bond of Culture among Nations’ by the Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Inaugurated with such distinguished patronage and under such happy auspices, this official journal is sure to enjoy a prosperous career and contribute effectively to the realisation of the objectives of the I.C.C.R.
The
journal contains in its very first number illuminating and instructive articles
by distinguished scholars,–on ‘ndia and Ceylon’
by Dr. R. C. Majumdar; ‘Dvipantara Bharata’ by Dr. Radhakamal Mukherjee; ‘Who
first colonised the East?’ by Prof. Nilakanta Sastri; ‘What are the Upanishads’
by Mahamahopadhyaya Vidhusekhara Sastri; The Background of Buddhist Philosophy’
by Dr. Bhattacharya; and also interesting and informative article on ‘The
Hyderabad Exhibition at Delhi’, ‘Places of Buddhist Pilgrimage–Rajagraha’, ‘In
the mountains–Darjeeling’, besides others–all by renowned scholars and
specialists in their various spheres.
One
outstanding, and perhaps a little disquieting, feature of this first number is
the preponderance of the articles devoted to the various stages of Indian
culture and the expansion and extension of the same in the remote past to the
neighbouring countries on the East and South-East. It is no doubt a temptation,
hard to resist, to Indians, to look back with pride on the achievements in
cultural conquest in the days of our ancient greatness, but the objective of
mutual appreciation and respect in the modern world and the promotion thereby
of world-peace and harmony, will be better secured by an emphasis on the mutual
influence of the cultures of these various countries and India in the past, and
informative articles on the cultures of these countries in the present, after
their evolution through centuries of contact with several other cultures in
addition to Indian, and appreciation of Indian culture and assessment of its
influence on their cultures by distinguished scholars of those countries.
However, there is no danger of our cultivating any arrogance in this direction,
in view of the warning note rightly struck by our ever-vigilant Prime Minister,
even at the outset, against any such tendency to self-glorification or
superiority complex.
The
journal is a welcome accession of strength to journals like Triveni,
already in the field, and devoted to culture and cultural understanding and
appreciation within the country and beyond its borders.
M. S. K.