Books

The first part of the book traces the history of Indian music and the continuity of its theory and practice for more than two thousand years. It is based on many years' research into the vast ancient Sanskrit literature of music. These valuable technical treatises, which lie in the form of scarcely catalogued manuscripts throughout the public and private libraries of India, had hitherto remained unemplored. Part Two transcribes and studies in detail 50 typical Raga-s. Each is preceded by a Sanskrit poem in translation which depicts the atmosphere; then follows an analysis of the scale, covering its intervals and expression, a study of the theme with its characteristic motives and finally a typical development. The present work is based on the author's two-volume Northern Indian Music published in London (but not America) some ten years ago, but long out of print and much sought after by students. It was described by Colin Mason in the Manchester Guardian as "of immense value to any practical musician" and "an invaluable addition to the very scanty literature of fascinating and neglected subject". This new version contains a number of additional Raga-s; the earlier text has been extensively revised and many music examples redrawn for greater clarity and accuracy. Some abridgement has taken place, but only of material which appeared originally for the benefit of Indian readers unfamiliar with Western staff notation, those able to read Sanskrit, and specialists in Sanskrit literature. The book provides modern composers outside India with a source of new inspiration and enables practising musicians to play and study some of the endlessly variegated modes for which Indian music is unique.

Considered the work of the Sage Bharatha, the Natyasastra speaks about many aspects of theatre. India has always treated theatre in a unique way, pairing music, classical Indian dance, and literature into its fold. It speaks of stages, their design and aspects of the play such as makeup and dance forms. It is the foundation of all the fine arts in India, and in over 6000 verses, it touches upon the ancient Gandharva Veda, an ancient lost text considered to give its readers the knowledge of the Apsaras of the God Indra s court. Learn how Indian artforms consider the mandapa a part of the play itself, and discover how the Rasas evolved. This authoritative translation and commentary gives readers comprehensive notes about the work, and teaches them its importance in the stage of life.

About the Book : Indian music despite its limited popularity is not a spent force, but has still a great role to play in the firmament of world music is the siren song of this book, The Music of India by Atiya begum Fyzee-Rahamin. Its hoary origin, gradual evolution, the impact of foreign influences, the two principal schools - the Karnataka (southern) and the Hindustani (northern) - and the glorious periods, when some of its illustrious exponents enriched it with their immortal compositions and elevated it to dizzy heights of perfection are brought into sharp focus. The mysteries and misconceptions engulfing it are dispelled by an elucidation of four important parts (angas): Sur Adhaya (Law of tones), Tala Adhaya (law of Rhythm), Ast Adhaya (law of Musical Instruments) and Raga Adhaya (Law of Tunes). Its connexion with astrology and the exploits of some of its legendary masters are narrated to reveal the power of the Ragas and Raginis to transport the listeners to that haven of enchantment where nature and time stand still. The illustrations serve as foils to the text. All those interested in Indian Music will find this book an excellent introduction for further study.

About the Book In 1963, Lionel Abel's book, Metatheatre: A New of Dramatic Form, was published. The basic idea of metatheater is that of multiple layerof illusion. The prefix meta- here, suggets beyond, above &within. Metatheater, in one of its senses, can be viewed as one make-believe (dramatic) world superimposed upon another make-believe (dramatic) world. Or as one dramatic world framed within another dramatic world. The most easily relationship is theplay-within-the-play.

The question might be asked what relevance such a recent topic of literary criticism in the West would have to a study of ancient Sanskrit drama. Each of the six essays in Part One of this book provides an effective answer.

In the sixth essay, a translation is given of the passage in the Abhinavabharati, wherein Abhinavagupta comments on the term of natyayita. Remarkably, this ancient Sanskrit term is most appropriately translated by the freshly minted English word metatheater. And it is through an understanding of this 30-year-old English term (metatheater) that one is able to obtain a revealing insight into what Abhinava was saying one thousand year ago about natyayita term used in the Natya-Sastra, in the section on Sarira Abhinaya, and illustrated by Abhinava with a reference to Subandhu's play, Vasavadatta Natyadhara The first five essays illustrate how profoundly a knowledge of the metadramatic structure of Sanskrit plays will affect the way in which they are to be understood and translated.

This ediition of Samaveda is based on the exposition of Swami Dayanand. The translator has furnished references in the footnotes to different intrepretations of Indian and foreign scholars. An introduction and glossary-cum-index are added for the benefit of those not acquainted with Samaveda.

The Eleven-Headed Avalokitevara is a study of the many origins that may have played a part in arriving at this number of heads, based on forms and powers: male and female forms; origins based on name; in scriptural evidence and images, as well as Hindu deities, and finally origin seen in Rock-cut litanies in caves of India.

Manifold as the sources are, they led to consideration of this Bodhisattva as the highest form of compassion in the widest sense of the word, the savior for humanity of eight to ten dreads, which assail and defeat humankind, especially for exposed travelers, be they pilgrims going to visit and pray at Buddhist shrines, or monks seeking new temples or to find new masters to teach them.

This essay weaves together a panorama in South Asia, moving up to Central Asian and Chinese cultures who contributed their own examples from caves in China (Tun Huang) that also held depositories of paintings brought back to modern cultures for study in Paris and London; long scrolls such as the Yunan Tali Kingdom’s treasure from the late Sung period, all told tales of Buddhist iconography and styles that most often harked back to earlier Indian models.

Korea found influence from China and Japan had the Eleven-Headed in metal and also of lacquer and wood in splendid examples from seventh and eighth centuries on. Still, most astounding is a theory weaving the thread back to the Indian cave litanies, showing how the Bodhisattva as savior caused in practice of art to furnish the model for how the ten scenes of dreads plus the great Avalokitevara’s own face led to an eleven-headed” giants” seen in Indian Gupta styles.

Tove E. Neville is a Buddhist scholar who has spent nine years in research of Eleven-Headed Avalokitevara in Asia. After traveling in more than 30 countries, visiting important sites of both occidental and oriental art, she settled for fifteen years in Japan. While living in the Orient, she examined especially Chinese and Japanese examples of Buddhist art but also made repeated study trips to India and Southeast Asia, and to special oriental art collections and sites in Taiwan, Korea, France, England and Switzerland Intermittently she pursued her graduate studies in oriental art history at the University of Hawaii.

Ms Neville has received initiation in Theravada Buddhism in Thailand, in Tibetan Buddhism in India and in Shingon (Esoteric) Buddhism in Japan, and has practiced these and Zen meditation over a period of twenty-five years.

From the Jacket:

The lesser known and explored of the two pillars of Hinduism, varna and asrama, asrama is a system of four distinct and legitimate ways of leading a religious life: as a celibate student, a married house-holder, a forest hermit, and a world renounce.

In this, the first full-length study of the asrama system, Patrick Olivelle uncovers its origin and traces its subsequent history. He examines in depth its relation ship to other institutional and doctrinal aspects of the Brahmanical world and its position within Brahmanical theology, and assesses its significance within the history of Indian religion. Throughout, the author argues that the asrama system is primarily a theological construct and that the system and its history should be carefully distinguished from the socio-religious institutions comprehended by the system and from their respective histories.

Olivelle pays special attention to how the system was theologically reappropriated in diverse ways at different historical periods through the hermeneutic labors of exegetes and theologians. The Asrama System thus represents a major study not only of Hindu religious history, but also of the tradition of Indian hermeneutics.

In 1994 The Asrama System was the winner of the American Academy of Religion's Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion in the Historical category.

About the Author:

Patrick Olivelle is the Chair, Department of Asian Studies, at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is the Professor of Sanskrit and Indian Religions. Among his recent publications are: The Samnyasa Upanisads (Oxford, 1992); Rules and Regulations of Brahmanical Asceticism (Albany, 1994); The Early Upanisads: Annotated Text and Translation (Oxford, 1998); Dharmasutras: Annotated Text and Translation (Delhi, 2000); and Manu's Code of Law: A Critical Edition and translation of the Manava-Dharmasastra (Oxford, 2004). His translations of Upanisads, Pancatantra, Dharmasutras, and The Law Code of Manu were published in Oxford World's Classics in 1996, 1997, 1999, and 2004.

About the Book : Besides its gigantic size and encyclopaedic and eclectic nature of its content the Puranic corpus stands apart from, the earlier Brah-manical literature in many significant ways; not the least of them being the fact that whereas the Vedas and the Dharmasastras had been meant for self study and were for the exclusive religious edification of the members of the upper stratum the puranas were required to be recited in popular gatherings and were generally projected as the scriptures of the masses. Their popular base and mass appeal can be judged from the fact that Puranic lore like that of the Epics has over the centuries become deeply ingrained in popular psyche. But what is really intriguing is the extraordinary nature of exigency which compelled the Brahmanical leaders to give up their former elitist and almost inflexible stance and not only take notice of the substratum of society but also seek to win them over through a genre of literature specially composed for them. Perhaps what is even more surprising is that though so much has been made provide as written about the Puranas in the past century and a half yet no serious attempt has been made to provide as completely convincing and wholly viable rationale for their composition and subsequent proliferation. The present work aims at removing this lacuna and establishing the purposive nature of the Puranic texts. It also seeks to underline the dialectical nature of relationship that existed between the processes of their composition and the forces of acculturation that became activated and more visible during Gupta/Post – Gupta times due to the amounting demands and pressures of an emergent socio economic order based on agricultural expansion.

About the Author : Dr. Vijay Nath is a Reader in Jankidevi College Delhi University. She secured her Master's and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Delhi. Her articles focusing on socio economic and religious history of ancient India have appeared in a number of well known journals. She is the author of the book Dana; Gift System in Ancient India: A Socio economic Perspective. She has been elected president of ancient Indian History section of the sixty first session of India History Congress.

From the Jacket

The volumes of the Project of the history of science philosophy and culture in Indian Civilization aim at discovering the main aspects of India’s heritage and present them in an interrelated way. In spite of their unitary look these volumes recognize the difference between the areas of material civilization and those of ideational culture. The project is not being executed by a single group of thinkers and writers who are methodically uniform or ideologically identical in their commitments. The project is marked by what may be called methodological pluralism. Inspite of its primarily historical character this project both in its conceptualization and execution has been shaped by scholars drawn form different disciplines. It is for the first time that an endeavour of such a unique to study critically a major world civilization.

History of Yoga is an attempt to trace the contours of origin and development of the discipline of yoga in all its possible ramification beginning from the Veda up till modern Times. Long before Patanjali stood our as the greatest systematize of the discipline yoga gad its origin in the aspiration austerity and tapas of the Vedic seers undertaken to understand the mystery of creation of the universe and the individual both in their essence. In contravention of the Aryan Invasion Theory dominating the process of investigation into the history of ancient India the volumes traces the louse of the Yogic sadhana of the earliest Vedic seers in the high Himalayas getting percolated throughout the rest of the country gradually and leaving its remnants also in the Indus seals of the third millennium B.C Being a product of total involvement of the personality of the Vedic Seers in the task of investigation into the mystery of creation the discipline has evolved into diverse path such as bhakti Jnana, karma and mediation ranging form pure spiritual to the anatomical as is obvious in its Hathayogic manifestation. This has exposition of stalwarts of the modern age such as Sri Ramakrishna Swami Vivekananda Sri Aurobindo Raman Maharishi and the rest as a follow up of the works of seers and sages. This development in the discipline has been possible through the works of a number of great yogins of the intervening period such as several others. The volume is a product of the cumulative effort of some of the best mind in the field available in India at present.

About the Author

D.P Chattopadhyaya, M.A, LL.B, PH.D (Calcutta and London Scholl of Economic) D. Litt. (Honoris Causa), studied research on law philosophy and history and taught at various Universities in India, Asia Europe and USA From 1954 to 1994, founder Chairman of the Indian Council of Philosophical Research (1981-1990) and President cum chairman of the Indian Institute of Advanced study Shimla (1984-1991) Chattopadhyaya is currently the project Director of the Multidisciplinary 96 volume PHIDPC and chairman of the CSC. Among his 37 publication authored 19 and edited or co edited 18 are Individuals and Societies (1967) Individuals and worlds (1976) Sri Aurobindo and Karl Marx (1988) anthropology and historiography of science (1990) induction probability and Skepticism (1991), sociology ideology and Utopia 919970 Societies Cultures and Ideologies (2000) interdisciplinary studies in science society value and civilization dialogue (2002) philosophy of science phenomenology and other essays 92003) Philosophical consciousness and scientific knowledge conceptual Linkages and civilizational Background (2004) Religion Philosophy and science (2006) Aesthetic theories and forms in Indian tradition (2008) and love life and (2010). He has also held high public offices namely of union cabinet minister and state governor he is a life member of the Russian Academy of sciences and a member of the international institute of philosophy Paris he was awarded Padma Bhusan in 1998 and Padmavibhushan in 2009 by the government of India.

Satya Prakash Singh has received his B.A, M.A and Ph. D from the Banaras Hindu University Varanasi. He has served the Aligarh Muslim university form 1962 to 1994 in various capacities such as lecturer professor and dean faculty of arts. He has received several awards including Dr. Ganga Nath Jha award of Uttar Pradesh Sanskrit Academy Lucknow Rajaji Literary award of Vidya Bhavan Bombay Pranvananda best book of the year in psychology of the science congress Bangalore Banabhatta puraskara of Uttar Pradesh Sanskrit santhana Lucknow and Rashrapati certificate of honor of the government of India. He has been governor’s nominee in the state universities of Bihar west Bangal and Sri Venkateshvara Vedic University tirupati. He has served as director of Vraja academy vrindavan Dharma hinduja international centre of Indic Research Delco and Vedic Research center New Delhi he has worked as an editorial fellow of the center for studies in civilization at New Delhi for tow terms. His publications included about 100 research papers and the following books. Sri Aurobindo and whitehead on the nature of god; Sri Aurobindo and Jung; from confusion to clarity.

From The Jacket

This book is about numbers and so many questions relating to them. What is the nature of numbers are they discovered or invented? What is mystical about them? Mathematicians develop a hierarchy of numbers in which mysterious dichotomies appear. For example, the integer 5 is not the same as the rational 5 which in turn is different from the real 5. The author explains how this conceptual maze does not affect the laypersons' arithmetic. He also discusses such fascinating topics as primes, perfect numbers, inaccessible numbers and many other unsolved problems relating to the treacherous terrain of infinity, which have baffled mathematicians and philosophers alike.

Jayant Burde has academic/professional qualifications in mathematics, physics, haw and banking. His published papers contain mathematical models in finance and organizational structure. He is also the author of the book Rituals, Mantras and Science.

From The Jacket

Significantly this book shows, by using a triangulation of methods (historical, phenomenological, and structural), what it is to live in a universe of meaning centered by the idea that the Ultimate Reality is grounded in a Female Prin- ciple. It provides a framework for uniting Hindu goddess-worship in all its sacred manifestations. The work uses the name Durga-Kali (via Mircea Eliade) as a vital focus for linking together tribal, popular (bhakti) and Brahmanic (Tantric) tradi- tions. The author's approach also allows for the integration of the physical, mental, and spiritual aspects of human life into a whole,-indeed-a unique type of balance. Though many sub- sequent highly specialized studies have enlarged upon aspects of its basic theme, this is the work that by and large launched a host of recent studies in the West aimed at helping those outside of the world of Sakta Hinduism to appreciate the wonder of its mythic cosmologies, cultic practices, and symbolic expressions.

About the Author

Dr. Wendell Charles Beane is Professor Emeritus of the History of Religions at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and does comparative researches in his approach to the study of major world religious traditions. He is also the editor (with W.G. Doty) of Myths, Rites, Symbols: A Mircea Eliade Reader, 2 vols. (Harper and Row) and The Truth Within You: Faith, Gnostic Visions, and Christ Consciousness (A.R.E. Press).

From the Jacket

The present work outlines the history of Krishna Chaitanya, the founder, and also the religious and social conditions which led to its emergence. It also discusses the teachings of the Sect and its literature, which has been potent ever since in the literary life of Bengal. It talks about the sect as it is today, the classes, the sub-sects, its orders and its cults. Lastly the author compares the Movement to Christianity, and claims that the whole idea of the Movement was to put Krishna in place of Christ and Gita in the place of the Gospel.

Preface

This book is an attempt to accomplish an exceedingly difficult task. It requires considerable temerity at any time for one to write of another's religion, an endeavour calling for so generous a measure of insight, understanding and sympathy. In these days, when race consciousness has become so keen, and national feeling so sensitive to any hint of criticism between East and West, an undertaking such as this book becomes doubly difficult; for it deals with personalities, customs, and ideas, of living rather than academic interest, warm and palpitating, because instinct with the passionate devotion of many hearts. Such a work can hope to succeed only as it is done in absolute sincerity, with scrupulous fairness, and with a constant sense of one's limitation in knowledge. I have tried to write in this spirit. However short of this high standard the book may fall, and in spite of its shortcomings, I trust it will prove useful to all who wish to know more of the religious thought and life of Bengal. To the devout Vaishnava himself it may be of service as a stimulus to fresh valuation of familiar religious usage.

I am indebted to many friends for help in various ways which can hardly be acknowledge here. Of these, I am under special obligation to Dr. Bhagavata Kumara Gosvami, Sastri, of Hugli College, for the unfailing generosity with which he has let me avail myself of his immense knowledge of Vaishnavism. It seems hardly necessary to add that, although he has given freely of information, I am wholly responsible for the use made of the facts, and for the interpretation given of the movement. It is a pleasure, also, to acknowledge, with affectionate gratitude, the information and the help given by many of my students during the past ten years.

The value of Asoka is greatly enhanced when we study and examine Asoka's lie, his reign and the great role played by him to reign the moral standard of his subjects. He himself perceived and visioned several issues which can be collected from a study of his edicts. Based on extensive research, this book presents a comprehensive survey of the life of this great ruler. The author looks at the subject both historically and analytically. It is an important contribution to the world of Buddhism and literature and to the study of Asoka's reign. It can be mentioned as the first major study of his life and it provides a unique body of evidence that throws new light on him. The author has produced it in a thoughtful manner and in a scholarly way and for this reason this book develops an integrated approach to understand him, his life and his services to Buddhism. To know and to study his reign it ought to be widely read and discussed. This clear and stimulating account will prove of absorbing interest to those engaged themselves in the study of his life. Based on edicts, this book challenges accepted idea relating to his reign and it makes an important contribution to ancient India history and culture. It provides a succinct survey of his edicts which are neatly analysed and literature on his reign.

This book brings together in an efficient and unified way virtually all that has been learned about his reign and the author has also gathered together from sources scattered throughout a wide range of the historical literature. This book is based on very sound research materials and it presents, describes and illustrates in a very lucid manner. It contains an interesting theme described in a thought-provoking manner and the author deserves appreciation because he presents before us an exhaustive work on Asoka and he has approached the subject with great care.

Dr. K.L. Hazra received his M.A., LL.B., and Diploma in French language from the University of Calcutta. He obtained his Ph.D. degree at the University of Peradoniya, Sri Lanka. He was a Commonwealth scholar. He is the author of a number of paper published in the noted journals and periodicals in English and Bengali. He is one of India's leading Indologists. He is a versatile scholar and is quite well-known for his contributions to the field of Buddhism. He is a well-known author of South and South-East Asian History and is one of the most influential thinkers of Buddhist history in India. He is the author of several books.

From the Jacket

This work is a study in Comparative Philosophy and Indian Metaphysics. Its starting-point is an inquiry into the validity of a charge against the heritage of Sankara-the charge that Sankara is a crypto-Buddhist. For giving the lie to this indictment of Sankara's heritage, the author has disentangled the essentials of Advaitism from the principles that determine the constitution of the Buddhist Absolute, in the traditions of Vijnana and Sunya. Possible evidences, in favour of the misconceived equation of Advayavada with the Vedantic Non-dualism, have been considered, and disposed of. A full-fledged account of the legacy of Gaudapada, and a still fuller account of Sankara, in most of the relevant aspects, justifies the title of this essay. A lively and brisk delineation of the symbolic usage of language in the Advaitavada of Sankara and his followers, helps in a considerable manner to distinguish the Advaitic heritage from the dialectic-centred philosophy of the Madhyamikas, and the unreflecting monism of some schools of Vedanta. The author has brought out very clearly the nature and status of he Dialectic in the Advaitic system of thought. Without identifying Advaitism with Buddhist Absolutism, he is prone to thinking that the dialectic of the Buddhists is a necessary link in the development of Indian philosophical consciousness. Even if the post-Sankara Advaitins look like the Madhyamikas, in respect of the art of philosophical disputation, they have, by their logical acumen, successfully reconstructed in theoretic consciousness, a Vision of the Absolute, only broadly indicated by Sankara But apart from dispelling certain erroneous notions about the Advaitic heritage, of which Sankara is the architect, the author presents a delectably plausible diagnosis of the present-day allergy to metaphysics and metaphysical thinking. And he uses the Philosophy of Language itself, for showing a way out of the contemporary whirl-pool of anti-metaphysical bias. Yet, more remarkable than all this, is the way in which he attempts to stratify. Ideologically, the different trends of Indian philosophical thought, and knit them together in an architectonical unity, the keystone of which is the Value-oriented Advaita. This value is Freedom. Its formulations in different systems of Indian Philosophy, are supported on different logics, built in different metaphysical moulds. They portray, in varying degrees of clarity and distinctness, the negation of the object-seeking attitude-a negation, which finds its ideal fulfillment, not in the replacement of one object by another, gross or subtle, but in the transcendence of the attitude itself, which alone is Freedom. Finally and convincingly too the author shows how this Advaita, synonymous as it is with Freedom, is the "Criterion-Concept" of Indian Culture at its meridian, functioning as the undeviating norm of our finer sensibility, expressed in our larger life, conduct and thought.

About the Book:

One of the foremost leaders of the devotional revolution which swept through Hindu society in the 15th and 16th centuries was Vallabhacarya. In terms of religion, Vallabhacarya's main contribution was his demonstration of the way in which a human being can shed his or her limited, mortal ego in order to rediscover an eternal individual participation in an unlimited divine being. With regard to literature, some of the earliest prose writing in any form of Hindi was produced by Vallabhacarya's followers in the Caurasi Vaisnavan ki Varta, a collection of accounts of personal efforts to apply the teachings of Vallabhacarya to everyday life.

The first part of the Bhakti Sect of Vallabhacarya deals with Vallabhacarya's life and with his establishment of an organization for his followers, a philosophical system to explain his view of the world and a spiritual method for putting his teachings into practice. The second part of the book is made up of an English translation of the sections of the Caurasi Vaisnavan ki Varta describing the lives of four early disciples of Vallabhacarya, one of whom was the poet Suradasa.

About the Author:

Dr. Richard Barz has been teaching courses in Hindi language and literature, including Brajbhasha and Avadhi, and in Vaishnava Hindu literature and philosophy since 1968. Currently Senior Lecturer at the Australian National University in Canberra, he has also taught at the University of Melbourne, the University of California at Berkeley and California State University at Long Beach. He first became interested in the thought of Vallabhacarya in 1963. Three years later he was able to spend two years in India, mainly in Mathura and Bombay, in close association with scholars within the movement established by Vallabhacarya. In 1971 he received a Ph.D. in Hindi from the University of Chicago with a thesis on the early history of that movement. In addition to his interest in Vallabhacarya, he has also carried out research in overseas Hindi in Fiji and Mauritius, in Hindi folk literature in central Uttar Pradesh and in contemporary Bhakti Hindu organizations both within and outside of India. He has written extensively on all of these topics.

From the Jacket:

Margaret Stutley is the author, with her husband, of A Dictionary of Hinduism, an indispensable reference work based on many years of research. In the present volume she draws on her study of religious cults and folklore to provide an introduction to the ancient magic and folklore of India. But the main source is the Atharvaveda, compiled about 1400 BC and containing much earlier lore, some of it originating in Sumeria, Babylonia, Iran and ancient Egypt.

The book demonstrates that there are many parallels between Indian and European folklore, since both Europeans and the north western Indian peoples are of Caucasian origin. The wearing of lucky charms, talismans and amulets is common to both , as well as the belief in lucky and unlucky days, birds and animals, the fear of curses and of the evil eye - still common in Africa, the Mediterranean countries and the East.Another common element is the fear of demonic possession, which has increased so much in the West that in 1972 the Bishop of Exeter set up a commission to devise the ritual for the exorcizing of evil spirits from people and haunted places.

Margaret Stutley points out that magical elements exist in every religion since it is their presence that makes a system of beliefs into a religion. Thus magic and cult are essentially the same, all rites being basically magical. She also shows that in all societies different stages of belief exist side by side, and range from naïve magico-religious beliefs to the most advanced spiritual and philosophical views.

About the Author:

Margaret Stutley is a private scholar who, with her husband James, retired over twenty years ago to North Wales. A Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society, she became interested in Buddhism and Hinduism in her teens and has since, with her husband, formed a library of Indological works, including most of the important works of modern scholarship upon which Ancient Indian Magic and Folklore and A Dictionary of Hinduism are based.

About the Book

India’s cultural traditions have their in diverse sources embedded in the life style of various pre-and proto-historic communities occupying different parts of the sub-continent in the various periods of their existence. Despite high antiquity of several archaeological finds, one has to admit that the earliest recorded references of India’s cultural philosophy and ideological concepts are found only in the textual data of Rgveda, which show an already developed stage of thought. The importance of Vedic philosophy and religious concepts especially those defining the form of divinities lies in the fact that they preserve in them the seeds of later Hinduism to a considerable extent.

The Rgveda contains references to various types of divinities which have been classified into three broad groups viz., (i) Terrestrial deities like Prthivi, Soma, Agni, (ii) Atmospheric gods like Indra, Vayu, Maruts, Parjanya, and (iii) Heavenly divinities like Varuna, Dyaus, Asvins, Surya, Savitr, Mitra, Pusana and Visnu. Of these the last five were regarded as different phases of sun’s movements. Varuna, who has been extolled in many hymns, is also associated with the concept of Rta, i.e. the cosmic and, oral order.

The Rgveda mentions some goddess too like Prthivi, Usas or the dawn, Ratri, Ila Bharati or Sarasvati. A few gods like Dyava-Prthivi (i.e. the sky and the earth) are vitally significant for latre iconographic development. To propitiate these gods the Rgvedic people made offerings of milk, ghee grains, etc. through sacrificial oblations and chanted hymns in their praise which, undoubtedly. Suggest presence of the elements of Bhakti (deep devotional urge) in the Vedic religion.

The present work is conditioned by a kind of unconventional approach to the study of Vedic elements of iconic forms from time to time to meet the demand of the people. In her view these developments are well attested to by the literature of historical times, e.g. the Smrtis and the Puranas.

About the Author

According to Chawla the early idea of image-making can be traced back in the hymns of the Rgveda particularly in the poetic imagery of early Vedic seers. She agrees that most of the Vedic deities, no doubt, originally represented the forces of nature but in the couse of time, during the Rgvedic age itself, she feels that iconic concepts in regard to at least some divinities had already come into vogue.

The author has also located and analysed certain Vedic terms prrserving in them clues pertaining to bodily features of some deities. The representation of form as reflected in the expressions like rupani pimsatu and rupam sukrtam, is an indication of some kind of artistic activity in Rgvedic times. Perhaps emergence of the concept of Tvastr, the divine craftsman/artist, was a result of constantly growing creative urge of Rgvedic societies.

Dr. Chawla views the whole growth of Hindu iconography as a continuous process of development from the period of the Rgveda onwards under the cover of religious philosophies. Yet, she does not deny the role of Indus civilization and external mythological import.

Jyotsna Chawla further invites our attention to the iconographic parallelism between the concept of Dyava-Prthivi, the eternal parents, and the one reflected in the unified form available in the Puranic iconography of Ardhanarisvara. She traces the growth of the iconic forms of Rgvedic deities like Siva, Surya, Some, Yama, Asvins, etc. in the later periods when the Puranas were compiled. She has beautifully analysed the Vedic symbolism and the attributes held by various gods in the form of vajra, pasa, danda, sruk and sruva in an logical manner.

The present work is based on an extensive and critical study of the legends connected with Holy water-places. Mythological, historical, geographical and scientific study of the legends is interesting and thought provoking. The Skanda Purana (1000 AD to 700 BC) has been made the basis of this topic most elaborately and covers almost all the tirthas referred to in various texts. Most of the legends have been studied critically and a comparative study has been done from the Vedas, Brahmanas, Upanisads, Epics and other Puranas. Various other mythologies such as Egyptian, Iranian, Greek, North American, African, Babylonian, Roman, Mexican etc. have also been compared to. The imminent purpose of the talks has been studied under various motifs. The author's psycho-scientific method of analysis and interpretation makes the work extremely fascinating and informative. The author has also drawn attention to the medical analysis of various water-tirthas. The work is a valuable addition to the Pauranic and mythological literature.

About the Author :Dr. Mrs. Savitri V. Kumar is a lecturer of Sanskrit in Shri L. N. Hindu College, Rohtak. On the present work, she has been awarded a Ph. D. Degree from Bombay University.

From the Jacket:

In this book the author has tried to trace the relationship which exists between Zen and the two chief Mahayana Sutras the Gandavyuha and Prajnaparamita, and then the transformation, through which Indian Buddhism had to go while adapting itself to Chinese psychology. The Chinese are a practical people quite different from the Indian, who are highly endowed with the power of abstraction as well as an inexhaustible mine of imagination. It was natural that the Mahayana teachings had to be transformed as to make them appreciated by the Chinese. This meant that the Gandavyuha and Prajnaparamita were to be converted into Zen dialogues.

(Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki was Professor of Buddhist Philosophy at the Otani University, Kyoto)

Preface

In this Third Series of Zen Essays I have tried to trace the relationship which exists between Zen and the two chief Mahayana sutras, the Gandavyuha and the Prajnaparamita, and then the transformation through which Indian Buddhism had to go while adapting itself to Chinese psychology. The Chinese are a practical people quite different from the Indian, who are highly endowed with the power of abstraction as well as an inexhaustible mine of imagination. It was natural that the Mahayana teachings had to be so transformed as to make them appreciated by the Chinese. This meant that the Prajnaparamita and the Gandavyuha were to be converted into Zen dialogues.

As regards Zen contributions to Japanese culture, a special volume has been written.1 Apart from Buddhism, apart from Zen after the Kamakura era, Japanese cultural history has no significance, so deeply has Buddhism entered into the lifeblood of the people. My attempt here is merely tentative. The section on 'The Zen Life in Pictures' is also a suggestion; a fuller and more systematic treatment awaits another opportunity.

A few facts are to be mentioned concerning the matter treated in this Series, which have come up while it was in the press. (I) The Tun-huang MS. of the Sayings of Shen-hui mentioned in p. 2 I fn. and p. 37 fn. has already been re-produced in facsimile, while its printed and fully revised edition will be published before long. (2) Dr. Keiki Yabuki has published a book giving detailed explanations of the Tun-huang MSS. collected in his Echoes of the Desert. He supplies us with a wealth of useful information regarding them. (3) All page references to the Gandavyuha are either to the Idzumi MS. or to the R.A.S. one. (4) The Tun-huang MS. of Hui-neng's Tim-ching (p. 15 fn.) will be printed and made accessible to the general public. It will be accompanied by the Koshoji copy of the same. The latter is an old Japanese reprint of the fifteenth or sixteenth century, the Chinese original of which was probably printed some time in the tenth or the eleventh century. Quite likely it is the 'older edition' referred to in a preface to the current edition of the Tan-ching, Its historical importance is beyond dispute.

The author's thanks are, as usual, due to his wife, Beatrice Lane Suzuki, for reviewing the whole MSS. and reading the proofs, and to Mrs. Ruth Fuller Everett, of Chicago, who also kindly read the proofs.

Reference to the generous encouragement of the author's friend, Yakichi Ataka, is not to be omitted just because he is always ready to respond unhesitatingly to all the requests of the author and to make the teachings of Zen Buddhism universally approachable within the limits of literary interpretation.

"The Yoga of Siddha Boganathar volume 2" by Dr. T.N. Ganapathy takes us further into the little known world of the Siddhas, adepts of Yoga, who for millennia, have explored the furthest reaches of human potentiality and spiritual development. Boganathar was not only one of the greatest adepts of Yoga of all time, but also a great scientist. In our present scientific age, the study of his works is especially rewarding. For the past 500 years, our western civilization has suffered from a schism between the rational, scientific view of life, and the spiritual or religious view. This divide, created in the politically charged period of the Reformation still haunts us. So, it is instructive to see in both the life of Boganathar, recorded in volume 1, and the writings on Yoga, in volume 2, how one great man married the two views.

Dr. T.N. Ganapathy has rendered a great service to all lovers of spirituality and science in the present work. For the first time ever, the writings of Boganathar, the greatest scientist of the Siddha tradition, have been translated into English, and a useful commentary on these profound and difficult texts has been rendered. The present volume contains poems which all lovers of Kundalini Yoga and Tantra will find inspiring.

About the Book :The religion-urban life of Ayodhya is attractive. Being the birthplace of Rama, it becomes a rich field of special interest. This book presents its culture in historical perspective.

Rama's ancestors who had founded the city are mentioned in the Rgveda. Its remote antiquity is proved also by the OCP which has been found from Srngaverapura, another old town of the region. Both the cities had contacts with each other.

Saketa, a part of Ayodhya, was established on the bank of river Sarayu during the sixth century Bc. For a long period, Lord Buddha and the Jaina Tirthankaras had made it their dharmaksetra.

The Ramayana and the Ayodhya, series of coins tell about the re-emergence of Ayodhya. Saketa was then a big township. The Kusanas were defeated at Ayodhya. Germs of the same national spirit had inspired the Guptas who had made their offensive from there. Some of them had made it their home.

The Pauranika phase of Ayodhya is described in detail. By the time of the Guptas, it had emerged as a great centre of Hindu pilgrimage. Under the influence of the Bhakti cult, during the early medieval period, a number of temples including that of Rama were built there. It continued to flourish in spite of certain odds. Visitors continued to flock there and worship their gods and goddesses.

This book enlists the temples and other monuments of Ayodhya and describes its antiquarian prospects.

About the Author : Dr L.P. Pandey is a great scholar of History. A brilliant product of Allahabad, Gorakhpur, and Delhi universities, Dr Pandey did his post-doctoral research at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He was Professor of History, Head, Dean, and the Director in H.P. University, Shimla. He taught History, Culture, and Archaeology at the University of Gorakhpur and Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth University, Varanasi. His research works include Sun- Worship in Ancient India (New Delhi, 1971); Ancient Himachal: History, Religion, and Culture [in Hindi (New Delhi, 1981)]; History of Ancient Indian Science, vol. I: Botanical Science and Economic Growth (New Delhi, 1996); and Bharatiya Itihdsa-darsana [in Hindi (Allahabad, 1997)]. Dr Pandey is a former Fellow of the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shirnla, and is also engaged in completing "Development of Agrarian Science, Technology, and Economic Growth in Ancient India (from early period to 600 Bc)

About the Author

Knut A Jacobsen is Professor in the History of Religions at the University of Bergen, Norway, and author or editor of fifteen books and more than sixty articles in journals and edited volumes on various aspects on religions in South Asia and in the South Asian diasporas. He is the author of Prakrti in Samkhya-Yoga: Material Principle, Religious Experience. Ethical Implications (1999; Indian edition, 2002). Recent publications include the edited volumes, South Asians in the Diaspora: Histories and Religious Traditions (2004) (with P. Pratap Kumar); Theory and Practice of Yoga: Essays in Honour of Gerald James Larson (2005); and South Asian Religions on Display: Religious Processions in South Asia and in the Diaspora (2008).

About the Book

In the Hindu tradition Kapila is admired and worshipped as a philosopher, a divinity, an avatara of Visnu and as a powerful ascetic. This book is the first monographic study of this important figure. The book deals with Kapila in the Veda, the Sramana traditions, the Epics and the Puranas, in the Samkhya system of religious thought and in the ritual traditions of many contemporary Hindu traditions. Kapila is an important figure in the sacred geography of India and the study of the rituals and narrative traditions of the firthas of Kapila is an important contribution of this book. The book also contains a translation into English of the text Kapilasurisamvada, Kapila's teaching of Asuri, found in a few manuscripts of the Southern recension of the Mahabharata.

Kapila refers to a pluralistic phenomenon. The Kapilas in the Hindu tradition can't be reduced to a single figure. In general, pluralism characterizes the religious traditions and religious life in South Asia, ancient, medieval, modern as well as contemporary. Openness for the greatest possible plurality is therefore often a good way to approach religion in South Asia. This is the case also with the study of Kapila. The approach of the book therefore is pluralistic.

Knut A. Jacobsen is Professor in the History of Religions at the University of Bergen, Norway, and author or editor of fifteen books and more than sixty articles in journals and edited volumes on various aspects on religions in South Asia and in the South Asian diasporas. He is the author of Prakrti in Samkhya-Yoga: Material Principle, Religious Experience. Ethical Implications (1999; Indian edition, 2002). Recent publications include the edited volumes, South Asians in the Diaspora: Histories and Religious Traditions (2004) (with P. Pratap Kumar); Theory and Practice of Yoga: Essays in Honour of Gerald James Larson (2005); and South Asian Religions on Display: Religious Processions in South Asia and in the Diaspora (2008).

From the Jacket

Mrs Rhys Davids, A Manual of Buddhism delves deep into the Pali Pitakas and Sanskrit Sutras of Buddhism, removes the huge mass of arid theology accumulated during the passage of that religion through different periods, different tongues and different races of men, and presents, in its pristine purity, the original message of the Buddha, who so extended the concepts of "way" and "Dharma" in the Upanishads, as to suit all men who "eddy about here and there, striving blindly, achieving nothing." He showed a way, which steered clear of the two extremes of self-indulgence and severe austerities; which was not an adage of worldly wisdom and prudence, no better than Aristotle's "the middle character is in all cases to be praised", which gave equal emphasis to all the joys and opportunities of life; which involved "a long steep journey through sunk gorges, over mountain in snow"; which became clear as one progressed; which required Dhamma as its only guide, which was one of advance to a clear goal; which was one of advance to a clear goal; which was no less adventurous than the one pursued by the prince in Kusa Jataka to win back his lost soulmate. His original teaching is so simple and direct that it is irresistible, which is the reason why Buddhism has survived as a world-religion to this day.

Mrs Rhys Davids' clarity of thought and diction, in combination with her deep erudition, have contributed in making this manual unique.

About the Author

Mrs Rhys Davids (27 September 1857 - 26 June 1942), a well-known authority on Buddhism, undertook the difficult task of translating from original Pali a number of Buddhist works which justifiably earned her a place among the foremost scholars of Buddhism. She was a pupil of Prof. T.W. Rhys Davids whom she later married. Besides her translation of the Dhamma-Sangani under the title of A Buddhist Manual of Psychological Ethics, she undertook the translation and interpretation of a number of works on Abhidhamma. As the editor of the Pali Text Society, a number of other works were published under her guidance. She was also the author of a number of books and articles: the more well-known are: Buddhist Psychology, translation of Thera-Therigatha in English verse entitled Psalms of the Early Buddhist Brothers and Sisters, and The Wayfarers' Words (in three Vols.) and What was the Original Gospel in Buddhism?

The Surangama Sutra, or Leng Yen Ching, is a Buddhist apocalyptic text, which, alongwith an abridged commentary by Ch' an Master Han Shan, has ably been translated from Chinese into English by Charles Luk. Containing apocalyptic thinking, it is asserted that this Sutra will disappear upon the disappearance of the dharma. The basic concern of the text is to point out as to how the law of causality terminates in the emergence of delusion, and on account of delusion Samsaric bondage is given rise to. The only way to overcome delusion, and thereby bondage, is to attain the state of enlightenment. Since the attainment of enlightenment is seen as the solution of the problem, the text, thus, engages in laying down the road map of specific practices that enable one to reach the liberative goal of salvation, which is freedom from the law of causality and thereby from delusion and bondage. Insofar as the store consciousness (alaya) continues to function, to that extent causality will remain operative. The methods, as developed in the text, are thus aimed at breaking the alaya. Upon the destruction of three marks of the alaya, which are self-evidencing, perception and form, the practitioner attains what is called the Surangama samadhi, or the gateway to perfect enlightenment. Upon the attainment of enlightenment is revealed the nature of the Tathagata store of one reality. Preface This important sermon contains the essence of the Buddha's teaching and, as foretold by Him, will be the first sutra to disappear in the Dharma ending age. It reveals the law of causality relating to both delusion and enlightenment and teaches the methods of practice and realization to destroy forever the roots of birth and death. It aims at breaking up alaya, the store consciousness, whose three characteristics are: self-evidencing, perception and form, by means of the three meditative studies of noumenon which is immaterial, of phenomenon which is unreal and of the 'Mean' which is inclusive of both, and leads to the all-embracing Surangama samadhi which is the gateway to Perfect Enlightenment and reveals the nature of the Tathagata store of One Reality