Book Reviews

AN EVALUATION OF THE VEDANTIC CRITIQUE OF BUDDHISM: By Gregory J. Darling. Motilal Banarasidass, Delhi - 7. Rs. 175.

In this research study, the author examines the criticisms of the Buddhist doctrines by the three Acharyas of Vedanta –­ Shankara, Ramanuja and Madhva. He takes up the fifteen Sutras (in the second section of the Badarayana Sutras) in which the Buddhist standpoints are sought to be refuted by the teachers from their respective points of view. The author examines also the oft-heard comment that Shankara was a crypto-Buddhist. He cites evidence to the belief that Gaudapada had pro-Buddhist leanings and Shankara was associated with the Gaudapada school.

After analysing the different counts on which the three Acharyas criticised the Buddhist standpoints, the writer observes that the Vedantic teachers either misunderstood the Buddhist position or deliberately misrepresented it. He also comments that the criticisms of Ramanuja and Madhva were really directed at the Advaita doctrines of Shankara and not so much to the Buddhist schools. To quote:

“Their refutations were based on incorrect assumptions about Buddhist positions, although, as has been discovered, their criticisms of Buddhism provided merely a pretext for their criti­cism of other Vedantic systems. The Vedantins misinterpreted Buddhist teachings. Their critique of Buddhism, therefore, is for the most part misdirected.” (P. 381)

Naturally this book is bound to provoke controversies but it should be welcomed for the stimulation it provides to modern scholarship to look more closely into the dialectical brush bet­ween two great systems of Indian thought.

M. P. Pandit

ADVAITA: A CRITICAL INVESTIGATION: By Prof. Srinivasa Rao. The Indian Philosophy Foundation, Jnanabharati, Bangalore­ - 500056. Price . Rs. 25.

This dialectical work is unique in some respects. We see an original thinker in the learned author, a professor of philosophy. Critical, coherent and cogent thoughts are presented in numbered paragraphs, sometimes with algebrical symbols. The author, on rational, logical, scientific and analogical grounds, questions the validity of some concepts and interpretations of the traditional Advaittins. However, he gives his own interpretation and con­clusions. Some of these present the traditional interpretations in a new light, while some refute them outright. All these features, compel a serious reader to pause and think coolly.

A few observations of the author are noted below:

(1) There is something which one calls the world which, is not negated or sublated even in experience (Brahmanu­bhava) but is only seen in a new light. (2) Brahmanubhava cannot be adopted as the sole criterion to condemn the truth of the waking experience. Two different experiences need not be contradictory because they differ. (3) One must, from the highest point of view, regard what was considered to be “Sadasad-Vilakshana” to be really “asat” or absolutely non­existent. (4) The rejection of the self cannot be countered by saying “He who denies the self is himself the self”. (5) The inevitability of Mayaa can never be logico-philosophical ... The entities designated by the expression Atman and Anatman are not ontological opposites. (6) “Anirvachaniyatva” is not a statement of ontological status of what is experienced. (7) “Neti Neti” is a principle without proof. (8) Experience (Brahmanub­hava) is non-dual in the sense that it does not have to correlate.

Grave problems posed by the analogy made out between the sublations of illusory snake after the rope-cognition, and that of the phenomenal world after Brahmanubhava, are pointed out. Author’s own interpretations of the terms “aparokshaanu­bhuti”, “Saguna”, “Nirguna”, “Sovikalpa”, “Nirvikalpa” and “Jivanmukti” are also given. Many more moot points are discussed, and a reader has to anatomise them. He will have to recall to his mind, the Upanishadic illustration of serpent and its cast-off slough, analogy of a rich man given in Sankara Bhaashya in the Samanvyaadhikarana, Vidyayanya’s observation in verse 6.13 of Panchedasi and teachings of Jnanadeva in his Anubhavaamrita. No simili can stand on all fours; and discus­sions about middyaatva midhyaatva found in polemical texts.

Some observations of the author, like 1-6 have necessarily to be reconsidered. Usages like “Aatmanam atmanaa pasyate” may also be thought of. On a close study some of the conclusions of the author will be found agreeable to the traditionalists also. Some of the author’s thoughts are akin to that of “sujaata­vaada” of Advaita school, which proclaims “Brahmra Satyam Jagad Brahma”. We cannot but appreciate the author who presents Advaita in a new perspective though he appears to differ in some places from the traditionalists.

The learned professor, however, discloses his heart and indicates the import of his work by his citations at the begin­ning of this book, the last two chapters that should necessarily be read, and his two observations at the end of the 16th chapter. Answers to some of his questions can be found in the lives, writings and teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi and Nisargadatta Maharaj.

A really inquisitive student of Advaita philosophy cannot afford to miss a close study of this book. We suggest that this book be translated into Sanskrit, so that it may be studied and evaluated by the traditional pandits also.

B. Kutumba Rao

WHITHER INDIAN EDUCATION (An Apprisal of Indian Educa­tion from the Vedic Age to the Present Day): By Dr. Ram Chandra Gupta. B.R. Publishing Corporation, Delhi. Price: Rs. 150.

“Whither Indian Education” of Dr. R. C. Gupta echoes a simi­lar national concern “Whither India”, voiced during the freedom movement. Various experimental measures in the field of educa­tion, even after 40 years of independence have not solved its problems. Verily, to know the cause itself is to remove the effect. This book succeeds in identifying the cause – the necessity of moulding a good citizen into a good man by means of good education, which promotes knowledge of the Self and evolves a healthy social organism.

The book deals with the scheme of education, its effect on the pupil, the values it involves from the Vedic Age to the modern period, Chapter I deals with the “Ancient Indian Education”, which is the outcome of the Theory of Knowledge upto the Buddhist period. The author has done the commendable work in portraying a detailed historical perspective of learning in the Vedic, later Vedic, Sutra, Epic and Puranic periods.

In “Education In the Muslim Period”, the author rightly feels that its quality was fairly high. He praises the role of the Domestic System of Education and the village schools in the diffusion of knowledge. He also finds a few similarities bet­ween the Hindu and the Muslim systems of education such as realization of Truth, affectionate teacher-student intellectual communion and the aim of education to equip the student with moral, spiritual and material improvement.

Dealing with the British period, the author shows how the aim of education in its early period was perverted to serve the colonial and religious interests of the rulers. The then government also failed to do much for the diffusion of education suitable to Indian conditions.

Discussing the proximate aims of education in Free India, the author suggests that it should awaken national consciousness in the youth and lay emphasis on the formation of moral character. He laments that the Constitution of India is silent on moral education and it does not mention the objectives of Indian education at all.

The book provokes us to have a serious look into problems of Indian education and exhorts us to have a collective commit­ment in order to preserve the spiritual and moral instinct of the nation and safeguard its temples of learning from the cor­rosive impact of the utilitarian, materialistic and hedonistic values of the West.

Dr. A. V. Rathna Reddy

TTK, THE DYNAMIC INNOVATOR: By R. Thirumalai. T T Maps & Publications Private Limited, Madras - 44. Price: Rs. 150.

Mr. R. Tirumalai’s        well-written biography of T.T.K. raises the question: Who is the competent biographer? One who is familiar with his subject or one who is not. Actually Mr. Tirumalai’s qualifications are impressive. First, he has observed T T K – happily termed as the Dynamic Innovator – from a vantage position as a member of the I.A.S. Second, Mr. Tiru­malai is an historian by avocation. Third, he has made effective use of the T T K papers – available in various institutions like the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Library, the Madras Legislative Assembly, the Central Legislature, The Hindu office Library and TTK Library – which constitute some of the important portions of the primary stuff of contemporary Indian history.

Great endeavour requires vision and some kind of com­pelling impulse as in the case of contemporary Indian historian ­especially during the Gandhian and Nehruvian eras. Further­more, events – economic and political- do not happen in categories. For they happen in sequence. Indeed the merit of Mr. Tirumalai’s book lies in his command of the narrative. T T K’s tempestuous personality – the word ‘tempestuous’ is used advisedly by the present reviewer – is brought out during the various stages of his career – an independent temperament made him reject the paternal profession (law) in favour of a career in the sphere of business, a member of the Madras Legislative Assembly where he told Rajaji (who was then Pre­mier of Madras) that he was “running the Government through parables”, a member of the Constituent Assembly where he was an important member of the Drafting Committee, a Cabinet Minister during the fifties when he put India on the international map of steel and in the early ’Sixties which witnessed several innovations in the Indian fiscal structure. More importantly, T T K had the ability to translate Nehru’s vision into economic reali­ties. Just as Nehru made a tryst with destiny long before India became independent, so did T T K made a tryst with steel in Independent India. Not surprisingly T T K was an intimate friend of Nehru. However, it is unfortunate that TTK was the first victim of “the man-eater” (TTK’s picturesque manner of des­cribing vested interests) at large!

The value of the book is enhanced by the Appendices­–a valuable paper on The Status of Industries in India (1956­-59), T T K’s statement on his resignation as Finance Minister, TTK’s statement on LIC Enquiries, a paper on Financial and Industrial Status 1960 - 69, a copy of a letter from TTK to T.T.Narasimhan. TTK’s statement at a press conference, the TTK – Nehru correspondence, the TTK – Lal Bahadur Shastri correspondence, a copy of T.T. Vasu’s letter to the Speaker, Lok Sabha, New Delhi, Extracts from TTK’s editorials in The Indian Review, and a draft of TTK’s letter to Mrs. Indira Gandhi in TTK’s handwriting. The printing and get-up are excellent. An altogether satisfying biography of T T K who was at once a dynamic innovator and a sophisticated rasika of Carnatic Music.

Airavatham Ranganathan

KASI & OTHER POEMS: By Purasu Balakrishnan The Institute of Commonwealth Studies and English Language, Mysore, 570012. Price: Rs. 40.

It is quite possible that the no-nonsense approach to the physical body by the practising physician has had its effect on Purasu Balakrishnan’s poetry. What generally strikes the poet is the ugliness, the decay, the death. A caterpillar’s “gorging insatiate/to bloated ugliness”, a calf three days a rotting on the road, the hen rendered into a pulpy mass by the speeding bus, the convulsive end of the Siamese twins! History and mythology also reflect the same touch of death in the midst of flourishing life. The envenomed words of Amba are witness to the labored vanity of our life on earth.

“Let the memory of a woman’s wrong,
Turn into a man in that life
And kill that man– 
that man, Bhishma!
Let me ply his death,
Bhishma’s death,
Through death - dealing Arjuna!”

Rarely is man vouchsafed that blessed mood when he feels freed from the shackles of earth and is for the nonce a citizen of eternity. This point is “understood” in Purasu Bala­krishnan’s thought-provoking preface which deals with the pro­blem of an Indian who chooses English for communicating his reactions to the life around him. A “collapsing India”, perhaps. But never a “collapsing Indian”. Purasu Balakrishnan himself is and example of the unbending spirit of eternal India. For only an Indian knows how to rest a while in the inner spaces of his soul even in the time of the breaking of the worlds.

“I pace your earth
and breathe your air­–
After this prattle-
in silence”.

Dr. Prema Nandakumar

FESTIVE SEASON: By Shailaja Ganguly. Writers Workshop, Calcutta, Price: Rs. 30.

Festive Season is a collection of eleven short stories some of which were already published in well-known magazines like The Illustrated Weekly of India. and Imprint. The writer Shailaja Ganguly is a journalist with a flair for creative writing. The stories told in simple, matter-of-fact style deal with slices of modern Indian life and changing values of tradition. In the “Festive Season”, the writer describes how Revati, a modern educated working woman compromises with life by tacitly accepting the totally unenviable lot of being an unwed mother. She could easily have pulled her married lover to her side, but that would mean undoing the life and love of another woman. Her innate goodness doesn’t permit such a heartless course. So she accepts her lot in a mood of resignation. The tragic story of Revati is etched against the gaity of the festival of Deepavali. In “Prodigal Pishi”, Shailaja delineates how traditional hostility towards widow-marriage vanished under the influence of all pervading money power. The “Light and Shade” gives a graphic picture of the beauty of joint fiamily system which is on its last legs now-a-days. All the stories are down to the earth. They present unsophisticated segments of modern life with proper appreciation of human sentiments.

THE EARLY BIRD: By Vera Sharma. Writers Workshop, Calcutta. Price: Rs. 30.

The Early Bird is a collection of five one-act plays consi­dering the paucity of drama in Indian writing in English and women play wrights even in vernaculars, we should welcome these plays of Mrs. Vera Sharma, though the achievement is small. The plays are simple in construction and are entertaining. Though the dialogues are not brilliant, they are efficient. “Ven­gence is mine” seems to be the best of the bunch, with its element of surprise and the philosophy of biter bit. We hope Mrs. Sharma will give us a better fare in future.

Dr. G. Srirama Murty

KAVYADARSH OF DANDIN – WITH TELUGU COMMENTARY By Dr. P. Sriramachandrudu, A.P. Sahitya Akadami, Hyderabad. Price: Rs. 8-50.

KAVYALANKARA SUTRANI: By Vamana with his own Vritti-with Telugu commentary by Dr. P. Sriramachandrudu, R-33, O.U. Campus, Hyderabad - 500007. Price: Rs. 15.

Auchitya Vichaara Charchaa: Kavikanthabharanamu and Suritta Tilakam by Kshemendra, with Telugu commentary by Dr. P. Sriramachandrudu, Sura Bharati Samiti, Osmania Uni­versity campus, Hyderabad - 7. Price: Rs. 21.

Dr. P. Sriramachandrudu, a sanskrit professor of deep erudition in Vedanta, Alamkara Sastra and Vyakarana, and a Samskrit poet of no mean order, has dedicated himself to the teaching and propagation of Samskrit, and is enriching both the Samskrit and Telugu literatures by his Samskrit publications andTelugu commentaries on Samskrit classics in all the above three branches.

All the above three books are classics in Samskrit Rhetorics. Kavyadarsa and Kavyalnakara sutrani, describe the characteri­stics of some Alamkaras of sound and sense, 37 and 31 res­pectively. R’ti (style), Gunas and Doshas and illustrated with suitable examples. Dandin is a precursor and path-finder to many. Alamkarikas including Bhamcha that came after him Dr. Sreeramachandrudu in his introduction traces the origins of Alamkarasastra, and gives a succinct history thereof, with the names of authors, their books and contents therein. Then follows an elaborate comparative study of Dandin’s Kavyadarsa and Bhemcha’s Kavyalankara, leading to the conclusion that Bhamcha borrowed from Dandin some ideas.

While Dandin wrote his work in metrical form, Vamana’s work is in Sutra-form consisting of 310 sutras with a vritti of his own thereon. According to Vamana, Riti or the style is the soul of poetry, gunas, but not alamkaras, add to the beauty of the poem. Upama is the base of all Alamkaras. Rasa is treated by him as an Alamkara under the nameof Rasavati. There is a critical introduction in Telugu which is informative also.

Kshemendra was a polymath and prolific writer on varied subjects. Auchitya Vicharacharchaa deals about the importance of propriety in all aspects in a poem. Though Anandavardhana recognised its importance for the proper delineation of Rasa, it was Kshemendra who classified it under several heads exem­plifying them with proper illustrations and counter-illustrations. No poet or critic can miss a close study of this book.

In Kavikanthabharana, Kshemendra gives good practical tips for an aspiring poet, budding poet and also for a finished poet. He gives examples also for his tips.

Suvritta Tilaka is a unique work in that there is no such other book as this till now in Sanskrit. He defines twenty-six important Vrittas. Then he points out the good and bad com­positions of words in some Vrittas. Last but not the least. Kshemendra is the only Rhetorician who pointed out which vritta suits which Rasa, with illustrations and counter-illustrations. This work is an opener to many poets, and should be studied and understood. A detailed introduction gives the life-sketch and works of Kshemendra.

B. Kutumba Rao

SRI VISHNU SAHASRANAMA STOTRAMU: Original in Sanskrit by Satyatirtha and translated by G.V.S. Subrahmanya Sarma. For copies: Smt. G. Kasturi Prasad, 14-37-41, Srikrishnanagar, Visakhapatnam - 530 002. Price: Rs. 25.

Vishnusahasranama commented upon by the preceptors of Advaita, Dwaita and Visishtadwaita, is treated on apar with Bhagavadgita. The work Vishnu may be interpreted as Brahman or Hari, but that does not make any difference as this strata itself contains names like Siva, Rudra and Sthanuh etc., indi­cating thereby that Siva and Vishnu are not different from each other. Telugu translations with Sanakara’s commentary are easily available, but this Stotra with Bhashya written by Sri Satyatirtha, a pontiff of the Uttaradi Mutta, andwell known for his miraculous powers is not, upto now, within the easy reach of the devotees, who will be grateful to this translator for having gifted them with this translation.

This book contains the text of the Stotra, an index of the thousand names in alphabetical order, and Telugu translation or gist of the original commentary in Sanskrit. This commentary just like other commentaries interprets one and the same name in different ways according to the differences in the derivations of words or split of the Samasaas. There are many citations from texts generally not known to may of us, Sri Sarma should have translated those passages also into Telugu. At the end of the book some names, the recitation of which fulfills the desires of the devotees, are pointed out. Method worshipping of Sri Vishnu with the necessary Nyaasaas is given in detail in the beginning. All in all, this is a must for all devotees, who, we believe, will certainly encourage the author for translations of similar works in future.

B. K. Sastri

If any person raises his hand to strike down another on the ground of religion, I shall fight him till the last breath of my life.

Speech, New Delhi, 2 October 1951