Book Reviews

The Upanishads A Study of the Oriental Texts By N.Jayashanmugham

Book Reviews

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The Vedan a Kesari, publishers need to send us two copies o their latest publication. Published by Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt. Ltd, 41, UA Bungalow Road, Jawahar Nagar, Delhi - 110 007. 2016, paperback, pp.412, Rs.700. T he aim of this study is to show that discrimination, and reliance on the original texts of the Upanishads are a great help in getting the real meaning of the Upanishadic texts. The help gained from the commentaries is acceptable to the extent they are faithful to the original text. The author, who was granted a Senior Fellowship for studying the Upanishads by the Indian Council of Philosophical Research (ICPR), New Delhi, has, to prove his point, selected eight Upanishads: Isa, Kena, Katha, Mundaka, Mandukya, Svetasvatara, Chandogya and Brihadaranyaka. From seven of these, some texts are selected, their traditional commentaries by Shankara, Gaudapada or Vidyaranya are given in short, followed by the author’s views. There are two more sections of General Topics and Allied Topics having eight chapters out of a total of 30. The book is dedicated to Sri Aurobindo. Isa Upanishad is considered the most important and the ‘greatest’ of the twelve Upanishads and as many as six chapters are devoted to it. This could be because Sri Aurobindo speaks of ‘the epic massiveness of the Isa Upanishad’—and the author is his follower! The anti-ascetic teaching of the second verse, according to the author, is woven into the whole Upanishad from the beginning to the end, and also into all the other Upanishads. Because of his anti-ascetic bias he does not accept the popular notion that Mundak Upanishad is for the shaven headed sannyasins. Instead it means the Head Upanishad. One full chapter is dedicated to derive the meaning of the word ‘Atmahana’. Lesser number of chapters are devoted to other much larger Upanishads! By this one gets the impression that the book is more a compilation of the articles of the author on some of the selected texts of the Upanishads than a study. On going through the articles, one is bound to agree with the view of the scholars who had studied this work for extending the scholarship of the ICPR that (i) The textural meaning of the Upanishad is relative to the interpreter and is bound to end as a projection of his own mind; and (ii) The research is coloured by antiadvaitin bias, for the author is out to vanquish his advaitin adversary. He does so by giving his own interpretation and thus commits the same mistake for which the advaitin is held responsible. The author has tried to defend his position in ‘An Answer to the Critics’ claiming that it is more in keeping with the meaning of the original texts. Had the author not used the Advaitic interpretations as purvapaksha and had presented his study with occasional references to the Advaitic view, it would have been more dignified, since the author’s interpretations are rational and noteworthy. Biased or not, an impartial reader will surely enjoy and appreciate this interpretation of the Upanishadic texts. ________________ SWAMI BRAHMESHANANDA, CHANDIGARH

Review of three Pictorial books published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai 600 004 in 2017. Dashavatar

Ten Incarnations of Lord Mahavishnu; narrated by KV Gayathri. Pictorial. pp.52, Rs.70. Sri Ramakrishna’s Stories

44 pages; Rs 60/- Pictorial Ramayana

by Swami Raghaveshananda; 56 pages; Rs 65/- I f the culture of a civilisation lies in its oral and written traditions, then Indian culture can rightly claim to be one of the richest in the world. We have so many stories from mythology, epics, and history that we can find through this treasure-house, solutions and a guide-map to almost any situations in our life by discovering parallels in the stories. The most reassuring feature is that much of the lessons from these stories are rational, with solid psychological groundings; even the most pragmatic person can find reason to believe and accept them. Into this category come two of the three books under review: Dashavatar and Sri Ramakrishna’s Stories. The first is an account of the ten incarnations of Vishnu, retold specifically for children. The stories may be disparate accounts of Vishnu’s descent in various forms to relieve the earth of specific burdens. But taken as a whole we find a common thread running through them –that of the earth and its sentient beings suffering exploitation and their turning to the force of good to gain mastery over evil and reestablish the cosmic order. The second book, Sri Ramakrishna’s Stories, is a selection of Sri Ramakrishna’’s parables –a story form very dear to him when discussing deep thoughts with his disciples. These parables are a blessing to the world, because explaining fundamental life-truths in their most accessible form they help us to understand the heart of a lesson without pausing to consider details. The third book, Pictorial Ramayana, is an abridged version of the best-loved epic, the Ramayana. Sadly, children today are not as familiar with the story as they used to be even a generation ago and the need to familiarise children with the concepts of truth, love, sacrifice, integrity, and the importance of familial ties has never been more acutely felt than it is today. All three books are attractively produced with beautiful illustrations, and they are great gifts for children. Reading as a habit is now bedevilled and we have to do everything in our power to encourage children to take to this medium as a source of information, and if that source also points the way to higher understanding, then it is too valuable to be ignored. These books are strongly recommended to be a part of children’s reading list. ____________________________ PREMA RAGHUNATH, CHENNAI

Indian Epigraphy by D.C. Sircar Publisheed by Motilai Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited 41, U.A. Bungalow Road, Jawahar Nagar, Delhi - 110 007. 2017, paperback, pp.475 +v+xxxvi plates. Rs.750. E pigraphy is the branch of scientific historical study that deals with inscriptional records. The importance of inscriptions for reconstructing the pre-colonial history of South Asia is well established since in many instances inscriptions form the only reliable historical record that has come down to us. The dynastic chronology and socio-economic history of ancient and medieval India would have been impossible without the discipline of epigraphy in Indian archaeology. The current work under review is a pioneering contribution to outline

broad aspects of Indian epigraphy by a scholar of repute. When it was first published in 1965 Sircar’s Indian Epigraphy laid the foundation for path breaking studies in the field. With a brilliant academic career and mastery over Sanskrit and Prakrit, Dinesh Chandra Sircar (1907-1985) went on to become the Chief Epigraphist in the Archaeological Survey of India and also served as the Carmichael Professor of Ancient Indian History and Culture at Calcutta University. Based on original sources, Sircar’s studies invariably bore the stamp of reliability, authenticity and definitiveness. Dedicating his book to illustrious European Indologist-epigraphists such as G. Buhler, F. Kielhorn, J.F. Fleet and E. Hultzsch, Sircar iterates that since ‘ancient India did not produce a Herodotus, Thucidides or Tacitus to leave for posterity a genuine and comprehensive history of the achievements of her sons’ [p.7] epigraphy stands-in to fill the void. In this work the author has made a wide ranging discussion on various aspects of Indian epigraphy, such as inscriptions and their evidence, writing materials, preparation and preservation of records, dating, and the eras. The first chapter lays out the context on the significance of epigraphy in Indological studies by analysing the merits and demerits of epigraphic evidence. The second chapter deals with the varied languages used in Indian inscriptions in clearly organized sections arranged under Prakrit and Sanskrit, Dravidian and Neo-IndoAryan languages. The author wisely leaves out the perennially disputed but still un-deciphered Indus script from his discussion. The third, fourth and eighth chapters survey the enormous variety of the material base of Indian inscriptions ranging from Palmyra, birch, cloth, hide, paper, wood, stone, and metal. These chapters also contain substantial information about the preparation and preservation of records and technical expressions used in Indian inscriptions. It is here that Sircar’s experience in field epigraphy becomes visible to the reader. An interesting aspect about the book is the section on royal charters or raja-sasana and the appendix titled ‘Stanzas on Bhumi-dana quoted in Raja-Sasanas’ where Sircar engages in the debates on the creation of rent-free holdings. It must be remembered that this has a direct bearing on notions of feudalism in Indian history. Another significant chapter traces evidences of ancient Indian epigraphy from varied Central and South East Asian countries such as Afghanistan, Ceylon, Burma, Thailand, Malaya peninsula, Indonesia, Cambodia, and Annam (Vietnam) with sections that relate about the region-centric specificities. The seventh chapter tackles the relevant but complicated question of dating and the use of varied eras in Indian inscriptions. Sircar not only provides information about the well-known Vikrama and Saka eras but also currently obsolete reckonings such as the Parthian, Kalachuri, Harsha and other eras. The only shortcoming of the book is that although it contains an appendix on ‘IndoMuslim Epigraphy’, Sircar’s assessment of PersoArabic inscriptions from the post-twelfth century looks rather scanty as compared to ancient Indian inscriptions in terms of analysis as well as evidence. Despite the fact that a number of significant contributions have been made in the field of epigraphic studies in the second half of the twentieth century by noted scholars such as V.V. Mirashi, N. Karashima, Ahmad Hasan Dani, G.S. Gai, Frederick M. Asher and Richard Salomon among others, they have built upon the able foundations that were chalked out by academics like D.C. Sircar. Written in a lucid style the book’s strength lie in its judicious and well-documented handling of Indian epigraphic data. Motilal Banarasidass’ second reprint of this pioneering contribution will definitely enable students to understand the evolution of Indian epigraphy in a better light. It will also be a valuable reference work for historians and epigraphists alike. DR. SANTANU DEY, RAMAKRISHNA MISSION VIDYAMANDIRA