History of Indian Literature Vol. II

The classical Vedic texts that deal with large-scale sacrificial ritual and those writings that deal with domestic ritual have traditionally been treated as unrelated. The former are devoted to the explication of rituals that are dominated by wealthy male elites; the latter concern humble private ceremonies more open to famale participation. Reflections on Resemblance, Ritual and Religion argues that there is in fact, a fundamental connection between these two large and important bodies of Indic religious literature.

From the Jacket

Makhan Lal Sen's The Ramayana of Valmiki is a modernized version in English prose of the great Sanskrit epic Ramayana. The appeal and freshness of epic poems transcend all limitations imposed by time, space, age, caste, creed, society, and language. All, irrespective of their age, succumb to the charms and fascinating personalities of its heroes, who have inspired countless men of different generations and spurred them on to perform almost superhuman task. Modern civilization owes most of its dazzling achievements to such inspiration.

Valmiki's Ramayana is something more than an epic. No one has built shrines in honour of Homer's heroes, to worship them as God. In contrast, from the time of its composition to this day, Valmiki's hero never lacked devotees. The reason for this strange phenomenon lies in this: in the Greek epics the cause is ambition, and the effect is the valour of its heroes; in Ramayana the cause is the moral welfare of society and the effect is the ideal conduct of its heroes under the most trying circumstances that destiny can weave. Rama is a personification of all that is expected of an ideal son, ideal brother, ideal husband, ideal prince, ideal ally, ideal commander, and an ideal king.

Translation of epics and rendering them in prose, is, at the best of times, an hazardous and arduous job. Here, the translator has done his best to capture to a remarkable degree the grandeur of the epic, the loftiness of its thought, the simplicity and elegance of its diction, and the freshness of its enduring beauty. This book, being one of those rare ones which elevates one's soul, should find a place under every roof.

About the Book

Makhan Lal Sen's The Ramayana of Valmiki is a modernized version in English prose of the great Sanskrit epic Ramayana. The appeal and freshness of epic poems transcend all limitations imposed by time, space, age, caste, creed, society, and language. All, irrespective of their age, succumb to the charms and fascinating personalities of its heroes, who have inspired countless men of different generations and spurred them on to perform almost superhuman task. Modern civilization owes most of its dazzling achievements to such inspiration.

Valmiki's Ramayana is something more than an epic. No one has built shrines in honour of Homer's heroes, to worship them as God. In contrast, from the time of its composition to this day, Valmiki's hero never lacked devotees. The reason for this strange phenomenon lies in this: in the Greek epics the cause is ambition, and the effect is the valour of its heroes; in Ramayana the cause is the moral welfare of society and the effect is the ideal conduct of its heroes under the most trying circumstances that destiny can weave. Rama is a personification of all that is expected of an ideal son, ideal brother, ideal husband, ideal prince, ideal ally, ideal commander, and an ideal king.

Translation of epics and rendering them in prose, is, at the best of time, an hazardous and arduous job. Here, the translator has done his best to capture to remarkable degree the grandeur of the epic, the loftiness of its thought, the simplicity and elegance of its diction, and the freshness of its enduring beauty. This book, being one of those rare ones which elevates one's soul, should find a place under every roof.

Schopenhauer is widely recognized as the Western philosopher who has shown the greatest openness to Indian thought and whose own ideas approach most closely to it. This book examines his encounter with important schools of Hindu and Buddhist philosophy and subjects the principal apparent affinities to a careful analysis. Initial chapters describe Schopenhauer's encounter with Indian thought in the context of intellectual climate of early nineteenth-century Europe. For the first time, Indian texts and ideas were becoming available and the belief that they could bring about a second Renaissance-an "Oriental Renaissance"-was widespread. Schopenhauer shared in this enthusiasm and for the rest of his life assiduously kept abreast of the new knowledge of India. Principal sections of the book consider the two main pillars of Schopenhauer's system in relation to broadly comparable ideas found, in the case of Hindu thought, in Advaita Vedanta, and within Buddhism in the Madhyamika and Yogacara schools. Schopenhauer's doctrine of the world as representation, or a flow of impressions appearing in the consciousness of living beings, is first considered. The convergence between this teaching and India idealism, especially the doctrine of illusory appearance (maya), has long been recognized. Schopenhauer himself was aware of it, emphasizing that it was the result not of influence but of a remarkable convergence between Eastern and Western thought. This convergence is subjected to a much more detailed examination than has previously been carried out, undertaken in the light of twentieth-century Indology and recent studies of Schopenhauer. The second main pillar of Schopenhauer's system, the doctrine of the world as will, is then examined and its relationship to Indian thought explored.

About the Author

Elisabeth Benard became interested in India at the age of twelve years when her father first brought back Hindu image from a trip to India. For many years she looked at these image in her family library never dreaming that one day she would become a scholar in Indian religions. She researched in India under the auspicious of the American Institute of Indian Studies and received her doctorate from Columbia University. She has lectured widely in the United States, including at Smithsonian Institute and Asia Society, as well as in India and Japan. She has taught at Princeton, Rutgers University, Collage of Wooster and the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Presently she is teaching Hinduism, Women in Religion, and Asian Religions at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

This is the first monograph which examines the rare Hindu and Buddhist Tantric Goddess, Chinnamasta, her rituals, her names and forms (namarupa) and their symbolism by comparing and contrasting her sadhanas (spiritual practices) in Hinduism and Buddhism. The entire Hindu "Chinnamastatantra" section from the Sakta Pramoda, the Buddhist "Chinnamunda Vajravarahisadhana" and the "Trikayavajrayoginistuti" are translated for the first time into English. Since Chinnamasta is a rare goddess, her texts were not popularized or made "fashionable" according to the dictates of a particular group at a particular time. The earliest extant texts date from the ninth and tenth centuries-a time when Hindu and Buddhist Tantras were developing under common influences in the same places in India. Having such texts about Chinnamasta Chinnamasta from these centuries, one can begin to understand the mutuality of a general Tantric tradition and the exclusivity of a particular Hindu or Buddhist Tantric tradition. Hence the study, not only examines Chinnamasta, but also attempts to understand what is a Tantric tradition.

Foreword

Elisabeth Benard’s work on the Hindu-Buddhist goddess Chinnamastã is a product of indefatigable energy, not overlooking any lead from Sanskrit and Tibetan texts or from knowledgeable informants. So to cast light on a goddess that was strangely obscure and yet implicates any Indian goddess properly to be called wondrous or arousing of awe. Although completed in the United States, her treatise does not follow a History of Religions approach with a baggage of technical terms. Besides, Dr. Benard avoids the guessing and speculations that characterized some previous references to this goddess. Throughout she employs a direct communication with the reader while soberly basing her conclusions on stated sources.

One welcome feature of Benard’s book is the translation of much material from the Sakta Pramoda. Another fine feature is the treatment of the goddess’s names, both the 108 and 1,000 list. Her classification of the names by the rasas of Hindu drama is probably unique.

This work is a solid contribution to the theories of the Hindu and Buddhist Tantras and their symbolism, in particular as related to the goddess.

Foreword

As we know, Gita Press is committed to publish literature that is helpful in exhilarating morality, building national character and inculcating fervour for developing devotion to the universe. For this purpose, Gita press has in its agenda, the publication of puranic literature, rare books on religious subjects, Upanisads, Gita, Ramayana and Mahabharata etc. Under this process Gita Press published the Asvamedhika Parva of Mahabharata composed by Maharsi Jaimini, a great scholar, poet, philosopher and also astrologer. His book on astrology is regarded as a mature composition on the subject.

It is said that Maharsi Jaimini composed also Mahabharata- much bigger in comparison to Mahabharata composed by Krsnadvaipayana vyasa. But the current of time swallowed most of it and now remains only Asvamedhika parva which gives a vivid description of Asvamedha Yajna performed by Yudhisthira. There are three thousand Slokas in the Asvamedha parva of Mahabharata composed by Vyasadeva and four thousand Slokas are there in the Asvamedhika Parva of Jaiminiya Mahabharata. It may give an idea how voluminous the complete Jaiminiya Mahabharata must have been.

A few years before it was a rare book. For the first time Gita Press published it in monthly 'Kalyan' in a serial form and afterwards in a book form with original Sanskrit text and Hindi translation. Now it has been decided to present an English translation with original Sanskrit text for the benefit of non-Hindi readers of the country and also abroad.
From the point of story telling it starts with presenting Yudhisthira quite aggrieved on account of the sin he committed in the form of mass massacre in the war. He seriously thinks to abandon the kingship and go to the forest for practicing penance. Vyasa ap