REVIEWS
English in
The
place of English in Independent India is one of the most controversial of the
issues facing the nation, on which opinion is sharply divided and passions have
been roused. The debate–between those who advocate the status quo, the
continuance, without any considerable change in the near future, of the
privileged and dominant position held by, English during the British period, and
those who insist upon an immediate replacement of it by the chosen national
languages, Hindi–has been lively and protracted and remains still unfinished.
Much heat has been generated and motives and vested interests have been
attributed by the parties to each other. The question has been discussed and a
temporary solution agreeable to all, arrived at, but a
final settlement has been postponed. Here, in this book, for the first time,
the subject is lifted from the arena of political
controversy to the academic plane, and all the different aspects of it,
relating to the official language, the medium of instruction in the
institutions for higher education, and the medium of examination in the
competitive examinations for recruitment to the All-India Public Services, are all presented with the remarkable objectivity and
detachment of a scholar and educationist with a nationalist outlook.
As
a result of the great expansion in education that has come in the wake of
Independence and the change over from English to the regional language in the
medium of instruction at the Secondary School stage, all over the country, the
teaching of English in our schools and colleges is in a chaotic state today,
Even the students, specialising in English language
and literature in our colleges, are unable to express the simplest ideas in
correct, idiomatic, English. As a teacher of English, with an experience
extending over three decades, and as Director of the Central Institute of
English at
Professor
Gokak is not only a teacher of English but a scholar
and a man of letters, with several distinctions and honours
to his credit in the field of literature as well as education. His views
on the influence of English language and literature on the development of the
regional languages in
In
this slender volume of less than 200 pages, a remarkably vast and varied
material is presented, of interest and value to teacher of English, the
educationist and the general public of cultivated tastes and concern for
national interests and welfare.
–M. S. K.
Rasgangadharamu
(First anana): by Sri Dharanikota Venkata Subbayya, published by the
This
is a Telugu translation of Jagannadha Pandita’s Rasagangadhara,
a classic in Rhetorics or Alankara
Sastra. There is already a Telugu translation by Sri
J. Madhavarama Sarma in the
field, but this translation has its own merits and special features, and hence
its place also is assured in Telugu literature.
This
translation is more lucid, explanatory, and elaborate. The translation of
technical definitions of Kavya, Guna and Bhavatva etc., are very explanatory and anaiytical,
so much so, even a student of ordinary intelligence and equipment can
comprehend the subject with comfort and ease. Secondly, while explaining the
definitions and divisions of Vira and Hasya rasas, Bhakti, Rasabhasa, Soka, and the nature
of Rasa, the present translator quotes profusely from other works like Rasachandrika, Kavyanusasana,
Bhagavadbhakti Chandrika,
Sahitya sura and Sahitya Darpana
etc., either to exemplify the definitions and divisions given in the text,
or to compare the views of Jagannadha with those of
others. The most valuable contribution of the translator in this work is the
section of about 20 pages on Rasasutra, wherein he
deviates from the original text, takes up the Rasasutra
of Bharata, and expatiates upon it, quoting
extensively from Natya sastra,
Abhinava Bharati and other works. Herein he
explains the nature of a Sahridaya, obstacles that
stand in the way of realisation of Rasa, the nature of Vyabhichari,
Sthayi and Sattvika bhavas and their distinction from one another, in a clear
way. At the end of the section dealing with the different interpretations of Rasasutra, the translator shows how Abhinava’s
interpretation is flawless and far superior to the interpretations of others.
In the section on Doshas again, the translator refers
in detail to the views of Sriman Tiruvengalacharya
the author of Andhra Dhvanyaloka, wherein he
establishes that mentioning by name of Rasas and Bhavas
is not at all a fault in the suggestion of Rasas and Bhavas.
With these salient features this translation, being exhaustive, self-contained,
comparative and explanatory, has also its special place in modern Telugu
literature; and is indispensable to a student of literature in general and Alamkara Sastrai in particular.
The Sahitya Academy of Andhra Pradesh also richly deserves our compliments for
publishing this work.
We
may, however, offer a few suggestions calculated to improve the usefulness of
the work. (1 The translator should have given examples for the five kinds of Vipralambha also to make the work self-contained. (2)
Passages from other texts quoted by the translator, and printed now by the
editors in the body of the original text proper, ought to have been printed
separately as foot notes. (3) An index of the subjects dealt with in the work
is wanting. Lastly, the authorities of the Academy will do well to get the
second part of this work also, which is more difficult to understand
and which is also indispensable to students of Alamkara
Sastra, translated on the same lines as this by a
competent authority on the subject, together with a biographical sketch of Jagannadha, and publish it at an early date, so that the
Telugu public can have a complete translation of the work in their hands, and
appreciate in full the genius and scholarship of Jagannadha
Pandita, the foremost of the rhetoricians and critics
that the Andhra country has produced.
Advaita Prabha: by Sri Kavuri Kameswara Rao, B. A., B.
L., Gudivada. Copies can be
had from the author. Pages 364. Price: Rs. 5.
This
is an exhaustive digest in Telugu of all the main tenets of Advaita Philosophy
of different schools of thought, expounded in various books by different
thinkers. This book is divided into two parts and 33 Chapters arranged in a
cohesive and logical sequence. Important topics like the nature of the world,
the five Khyatis, Ajnana,
Mulavidya, the world, Jiva and Isvara,
and Pramanas are dealt with in
detail in the first part of the book. A learned lawyer as he is, the author
presents the subject matter in an analytical way. Various issues are raised and
problems posed at every step and they are answered and solved satisfactorily.
The
second part is devoted to the practical aspect of the Advaita Philosophy.
Herein the author explains at length the means of realisation of the Supreme
Brahman, viz., Dhyana, Ashtangayogo,
analytical knowledge of the five Kosas,
Adhyaropa, Apavada
and Jivanmukti.
The
book is packed with serious subject matter and almost all the authorities are
found referred to. One wishes however that the author had dilated upon the
philosophy of Yogavasishtha and Tripura Rahasya also,
and used less of technical terminology, though the naure
of the subject precludes complete elimination of the same, and explained, in
the glossary at the end, some more technical terms also making the book thereby
more easily intelligible even to a layman. An inquisitive student of
philosophy, who has the patience to wade through these pages, and even a
student that has once studied the philosophical texts but could not present to
himself a clear picture of the main tenets of Advaita Philosophy, will be
richly rewarded by way of enlightenment on the subject. We compliment the
author on his successful presentation of a terse subject in an analytical way,
and we sincerely recommend this book to all students of philosophy, and to all
libraries.
–B. KUTUMBA RAO
Kathalu
Vraayadam Elaa? (How
to write stories) Symposium edited by ‘Sarvari’.
Published by Sri publications, Kodambakkam,
Madras-24. Pages 205. Price Rs. 3.
In
Telugu, as in other Indian languages, the short story has come to be the most
popular art form in literature, for the writer as well as the reader. Maybe it
is partly due to the pressure on time, when a long novel has little chance,
unless it becomes a modern classic for some inexplicable reason. Hundreds of
stories come out every week and month through the illustrated weeklies and
literary periodicals. It was indeed a happy thought, on the part of the editor
of this volume, himself a fiction-writer of some experience, to invite ten
other practitioners in this fertile field, to contribute to a symposium on “How
to write a story”, perhaps the first of its kind in Telugu. The result is quite
an interesting and representative cross-section of views and hints, from the
horse’s mouth as it were. ‘Chalam’, the veteran in this
line, who is no more the intellectual epicentre of
social earthquakes, seems to take a rather pessimistic view of contemporary
short story writers. They are too much preoccupied with hunger and
money-making, he complains. Not enough of imagination, intellectual integrity,
or moral courage, he adds. He is rather disillusioned. ‘Butchibabu’
describes at some length his own credo and technique, which is revealing. But
somehow, he chooses to go to a lot a trouble in refuting the charge that many
of the Telugu writers are modelling themselves on
English and American masters. He tries to refer the critics back to Ramayana
and the classics, which may well be needless, when it is admitted that in the
context of modern life, the short story writer of today has a closer artistic
affinity with Maugham, Bates, Hemingway and Saroyan than Valmiki and Vyasa. Sarvari’s accent on the
need for a wide reading is well placed in view of the tendency in some quarters
to ring the changes with little of capital in the shape of ideas and
perspective. It is some times cynically remarked that Indian writers read their
own works. They seldom read one another or writers from afar. There are many
intellectual gaps to be filled before one could claim to be sui
generis.
–D.
ANJANEYULU