Reviews

[We shall be glad to review books in all Indian languages and in English, French and German. Books for Review should reach the office at least SIX WEEKS in advance of the day of publication of the Journal.]

The Star, Adyar, Madras. (Annual subscription Rs.4-8-0. Published every month.)

We have great pleasure in welcoming The Star into the rank of journalism. Its special function is to spread far and wide the message of the Lord of Love-the Bodhisattva Maitreya-through His chosen vehicle, Mr. J. Krishnamurti. To a large and rapidly expanding circle of, admirers, Mr. Krishnamurti-or 'Krishnaji,' as he is called with reverent affection-is the messenger of truth, the giver of strength to those that are sad and heavy-laden. His illuminating talks to a group of disciples are being published serially in The Star as also his poems. We are glad to notice that even those who do not belong to the Order of the Star have been invited to write to the journal.

Like so much else that proceeds from Adyar, The Star displays exquisite taste in printing and get-up. The May number, commemorating Mr. Krishnamurti's birthday, is a superb production and contains valuable articles by Lady Emily Lutyens and Mr. K. S. Chandrasekhara Iyer. We expect that, in course of time, the journal will be enriched by coloured reproductions from master-artists.

The Star and the Triveni were born almost simultaneously. And we feel they have a similarity of ideals and outlook. We wish our charming contemporary a long life of devoted service in the cause of Beauty and Truth.

K. R.

GANGOLY, O. C.-The Art of Java (Little Books on Asiatic Art) (Vol. 2), Rs. 4-8-0. (Published by the Manager, The "Rupam", Calcutta).

Very few are the works in English which treat of Indian expansion beyond the seas, and even they have been published only in recent years. English writers have been very chary of utilising the vast material collected in the various countries over which India had cast her spell in ages long past, and the Indian people, who have naturally to rely on books in the English language, have been grossly ignorant of the achievements of their forefathers in lands to which they had gone on what was obviously a cultural conquest. Recently, however, we have had a few books in English which have attempted to give us , an idea of the range of that conquest and the firmness of the grip of that culture in lands far from India, but still not too far removed for the venturesome Indian not only to sail to and settle in, but also to convert to 'Indianism'-if we may be permitted to coin a much needed term. Still, they are intended for specialists and they can make no appeal to the average reader who cannot have a large library of costly books at his disposal. We have, therefore, felt very often that there is a great need of a series of works written in a popular style and illustrated adequately, though not sumptuously. To us it is a pleasure, therefore, to see Mr. Gangoly's book on 'The Art of Java' exactly satisfying the need we have felt. Mr. Gangoly is not a specialist on the Art of Java, but he has the advantage of a highly trained feeling for the best in Art and: a fine appreciation of the qualities and the essentials of the Art of the mother country itself. He knows how to present his subject with lucidity and he does not lose sight of proportions in dealing with the relation of Indian to Indonesian, Art. He has a fine taste and he knows what illustrations to choose. Mr. Gangoly is, in fact, the foremost Indian Art-critic and it is no surprise that his book takes rank as a classic among popular presentations of aspects of Indonesian Art. In the format, in the get-up, in the letter-press and in the illustrations, we have the best that we can have for the price. Indeed, the price is astonishingly low, considering how excellent the book is in every feature. To every lover of Art, the book is an excellent bargain and a valuable possession.

No book can bring home to the average reader as this one the strength of the feeling for Art which dominated the psychological life of the ancient Indian. One feels almost as if what time and the barbarian have reduced to ruins in India are to be found fairly well-preserved in Java: the sculptures seem almost to have been transported from India and deposited in that island. The great monument at Boro-Budur, which in many ways typifies the Hinduised Art of Java, is remarkable for the entire absence of any element which may, by any chance, be called Javanese: even the physiognomy of the faces, is distinctly Hindu and the type is not to be mistaken.

More remarkable even than the identity of feeling, sentiment, conception and powers of execution between the Art of India and that of Java, is the very interesting development which Java has given to certain characteristic Hindu notions. Most of the conceptions are foreign to Hinduism, but it is difficult to say how far they were deviations from, or the logical or the artistic sequels to, the general lines of Hindu thought and feeling. One such interesting development is the Javanese practice of setting up a portrait-statue of a deceased potentate as the idol in a temple and worshipping it as an image of God. The Indian custom of building temples as memorials to deceased persons and naming the image installed in them after the deceased led probably, on Javanese soil, to the practice of investing images so installed with the features of the deceased. But in India itself the practice remains unknown. Indeed, the available evidence points to a possibility of a God being created, not as in Java, in the image of a man, but of man being created, as in the Bible, in the image of God: no other interpretation can be placed on an inscription-the only record so far discovered which speaks to the practice-at Harihar in the Davanagere Taluk of the Mysore State (see Epigraphia Carnatica, Vol. II Dg. 59) dated 1280 A. D. in which we are told that Saluva Tikkana directed by Isvara, installed his master, King Mahadeva, in the image of the God Lakshmi-Narayana. In Java, the practice seems to have obtained in temples built to the various Gods: a statue of King Anusapati (1249 A. D.) is said to have been set up as an image of Siva, a statue of King Erlanga shows him as Vishnu riding Garuda. Kretarajasa's statue is a so-called Hari-Hara, and Queen Dedes was sculptured as Pranjnanaparamita. But in India we have not so far chanced on any example of a memorial temple to Vishnu.

Another interesting development in Java is 'passion' similar to the passion which in the Indian continent has given us Hari-Hara-but a passion of Saivism and Buddhism: we have a temple with Siva in the main cell and a Buddha above it, and we have a stupa-linua, and we meet also with an assertion, in a Javanese work, that Siva is identical with Buddha.

From which part of India did Java derive its Art? Mr. Gangoly is evidently inclined to agree with Dr. Kern's view that the sanctuary of Siva at Kunjara-Kona (near Hampi, South India) was the prototype of the first temple of Java. One would like to have a statement of the grounds on which the view is based, for the architecture of Anegundi, with which Kunjara-Kona is identified, is too little known to enable anyone to pronounce an opinion on Dr. Kern's view.

GANGOLY O. C.-Southern Indian Bronzes (First Series) (Little Books on Asiatic Art, Vo. 1). Published by the Manager, 'Rupam' Calcutta. Rs.2-4-0.

This book is in effect a popular issue of the author's famous earlier book, South Indian Bronzes, though some of the illustrations are new. It is, however, a disappointing production, as Mr. Gangoly has failed to take note of the very valuable books in this field of Gopinatha Rao and Krishna Sastri, whose work is not even mentioned in the Bibliography. It is hoped that, in the second series which Mr. Gangaly promises, he will endeavour to do justice to himself and to the subject.

T.G.A.

TELUGU

SAHADEVA SURYAPRAKASA RAO: Munimapu

Nothing is so characteristic of the Literary Renaissance in Andhra as the rapid emergence into notice of a number of youngmen devoted, heart and soul, to lyric poetry. Most of them are still at College and some not yet out of their teens. More than a decade ago, there were a few solitary reapers like Rayaprolu Subba Rao and Abburi Ramakrishna Rao, but now , we seem to be having a rich harvest garnered by the loving hands of modern Andhra students. Suryaprakasa Rao, whose occasional poems are here presented in book-form, is undoubtedly a poet of great promise. Like most youngsters of our day, he feels that the times are out of joint, that there is much more of sorrow and weariness in the world than of joy and sunshine. This vein of pessimism is also a feature of the poetry of Krishna Sastri; and in his attitude towards life and even in his vocabulary and turns of phrase, Suryaprakasa Rao reminds us of the elder poet. The poems are most of them addressed to 'the beloved' and pour forth the heart's agony of one who has experienced 'the pangs of despised love'. The young poet has remarkable facility of expression, though there is a marked bias in favour of highly Sanskritic samasas.

What we have before us is so scanty and so full of the single theme of love, that it is not possible to judge of his poetry as a whole. We look forward to longer and more sustained pieces as well as a greater variety of themes, and maybe the triumphant note of fulfilled love as in Nayani Subba Rao's Phala Sruthi.

We believe that the future is full of hope for Telugu poetry and this slender volume has strengthened that belief.

K. R.

V. SREERAMULU B.A., L. T., (M. H. School Narasaraopet) A Text Book of Physics in Telugu: (Price Rs. 2.)

This text-book is written for High School forms in accordance with the S.S.L.C. syllabus of C. Group Physics, and contains all that a student sitting for the Physics examination of the S.S.L.C. requires.

Education spreads far and wide only if imparted in the mother tongue but though the authorities have approved of vernacularisation, our schools are slow in taking it up, what with want of proper text-books and prejudice and superstition on the part of the teachers, for, a conservative mind always likes to tread the beaten paths and shuns as far as possible new ways, though these lead to progress.

This book removes a long-felt want and, greatly helps in the vernacularisation of Science, and if students and teachers use it freely, the subject which hitherto has been felt rather difficult on account of the foreign medium, will be readily grasped and better results will be achieved. We commend it heartily to teachers and pupils.

S. V.