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]

SANSKRIT

The Mahabharata, Southern Recension. –[Critically edited by P.P.S. Sastri, B. A. (Oxon); Vols. I & II, Adi Parvan; Price Rs. 6/ per set or Rs. 4/ per volume; published by Vavilla Ramaswami Sastrulu & Sons, Esplanade, Madras.]

Indologists have been aware for sometime now of more than one recension of the Mahabharata. Dr. Burnell and following him Prof. Winternitz had called attention to the Southern recension even as early as 1898. No apology is therefore needed for this publication of a critical and definitive text of that recension. We hasten to congratulate the enterprising publishers as much for their commendable venture as for their discriminating choice of an editor. Professor Sastri discusses in detail the available manuscript material and the outstanding features of the Southern recension. So far as the Adi Parvan is concerned, he would appear to be on firm ground in making out over half-a-dozen distinctive characteristics of that recension. These are the omission of the Brahma-Ganesa Episode, the enumeration of chapters, of stanzas and verses definitely varying from that of the Northern version, the transposition of the Yayati and Sakuntala Episodes, the omission of the Nalayaniyo-palchyana, the inclusion of the incidents of the antar-dvipa-prakarana, and so on. The distinctive features are fully supported by the representative manuscripts so carefully chosen by the editor for the constitution of his text. Not even a quarter of a verse, it is claimed, has been added without the sanction of the available manuscript material.

The text thus constituted will, we have no doubt, prove authentic and consequently valuable to scholars in their assessment of the worth of the critical edition of the Bhandarkar Oriental Institute. The latter, we find, corresponds in its general features, more closely to the text as constituted in the Southern recension.

The South has contributed not a little both to the development and to the preservation of Sanskrit. Literature and it would seem extremely probable that the much fuller Southern recension of the Mahabharata is also the more authentic one. The usual prejudice of literary criticism is against longer recensions, but both textual and historical considerations impel us in the opposite direction in the present case. The Southern recension does not always sin by inclusion, the omission already mentioned of the Ganesa Episode is significant; that it has a greater sense of logical sequence in the arrangement of its episodes is not evidence of a later dawning of the logical sequence; other things being equal, it is prima facie evidence of authenticity. There is fuller support both for its enumeration of verses, etc., and its episodes, from such early writers as Nannayya of the eleventh century, the translator of the Mahabharata into Telugu. Dion Chrysostom is reported to have referred as early as the first century A.D. to the hundred thousand verses of this epic. In the epic itself there is unmistakable reference to this number of verses in more than one place. The only legitimate conclusion would seem to be that drawn by the able editor, that the original Mahabharata must have approximated to the 1,00,000 verses than to any lesser number. The value of the Southern recension will thus be patent.

In the constitution of the text, a single manuscript which appeared on all considerations to be most trustworthy, has been scrupulously adhered to throughout. The footnotes contain variant readings but are not cumbered with them, only such readings being chosen as can be of value to the critical scholar, because of their greater charm or intelligibility. The very elaborate tables of contents and indices will prove of inestimable value to the scholar, while the handy and attractive get-up will commend the volumes to all who venerate the Mahabharata. The quick succession in which the first two volumes have come out, holds out a very reasonable assurance of the work being completed at no distant date. It is to be hoped that the publishers will meet with the encouragement they so richly deserve.

S. S. S.

ENGLISH

The Problem of Federalism–Two volumes: By Sobei Mogi. [With a preface by H. J. Laski, pp. 1144. Price 36 sh., the set. Allen and Unwin.]

Mr. Sobei Mogi's two volumes on The Problem of Federalism are a timely publication for us in India. Here we have an exhaustive and accurate survey of the growth of the doctrine of federalism from the earliest times to the present day. Mr. Mogi takes up every thinker who has made any contribution to federal theory, and states his views with completeness and clarity. In all the recent discussions of this very important subject in India, one notices an alarming tendency, to neglect the theory of federalism altogether. We are told that theories and precedents are no use when the ‘peculiar conditions’ of India require institutions which are not the less desirable because they run counter to them. The latest report of the Federal Structure Committee really goes much further and denounces any attempt to criticise its proposals in the light of theory. With very great respect to the talented and wise lawyers and statesmen who assisted in the formulation of the Round Table Conference Scheme, it is submitted that the only test of the soundness of institutions must be their essential validity in relation to ascertained human experience which alone ripens into canons of political science, in due time.

The idea of a composite state has a history which reaches into classical times. We are however very much more concerned with the particular form of composite state known as the Federal State, and the most distinguishing characteristic of this type of state is that it is based upon Law strictly so called. Almost every writer whose views Mr. Mogi has collected in his tomes is agreed about this. When the Indian Princes, for instance, say that they would safeguard their sovereignty by reserving the right to re-enact national laws so as to make them applicable within their territories, they are suggesting something which is essentially outside the doctrine of federalism. And a careful study of the views of German thinkers, particularly of those who advocated the Genossenschaftstheorie, would reveal the great difficulties that exist in reconciling the orthodox notions of sovereignty with the facts of modern federalism. Is it true to say that the component states of a modern federal state are sovereign in the real sense of that term? Is even the national government sovereign? It is said that there is a division of sovereignty. But a strictly logical analysis, based upon well-accepted canons of law would show that neither the states nor the national government are possessed of sovereignty in a federal state. This confusion arises because the distinction between sovereignty and the exercise of sovereign powers is overlooked. The highest authority in the state, whose will knows no superior, is the sovereign. And in modern democratic states, it is the people who are acknowledged to possess this power. It needs no logic nor law to understand that sovereignty in this view really rests with whoever has the amending power in the state. The constitution is the expression of the will of the sovereign, and has to be conformed to by the national and state governments. It is thus futile to claim the preservation of sovereignty under a federal system for the component parts thereof: the very fact of federal integration consumes individual sovereignties so as to create a single all-embracing sovereignty. What is left for state and national governments to do is to administer the powers of sovereignty under the authority conferred by the constitution. There is no real discussion of this important theoretical aspect of the question in the proceedings of the Indian Round Table Conference. On the other hand, these and several other very important questions were the first to demand the attention of the wise men who sat in Weimar to determine the destinies of Republican Germany.

We recommend Mr. Mogi's able and interesting survey confidently to students and publicists. In India particularly, we repeat, we stand to gain by a study of this book. It will smooth the work of Round Tablers, who flounder because they do not, dare not, base their attitude upon proven, sound theory. Politics is a difficult science, and great men have laboured to give it perfection as Mr. Mogi's marvel of industry has shown. It were unwise to reject their testimony.

N.D.V.

The Kadamba Kula.–By George M. Moraes, M.A. [With a Preface by the Rev. H. Heras, S.J., Bombay. B.X. Furtado and Sons. 1931. Price Rs. 15.]

This is a valuable contribution to the study of one of the least known dynasties of South India. The Kadambas, who were little more than a name a few years ago, before they were actually noticed by Drs. Fleet and Dubreuil (see Fleet, Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts; Dubreuil, Ancient History of the Deccan) have been studied thoroughly and systematically by the author. Consequently his task was not merely a study of a family that had received till now only slight notice in the general history of South India, but one involving the preparation of a complete history of Western Karnataka (called Kuntala in ancient Sanskrit literature) from the beginning of the fourth century A. D. down to the middle of the fourteenth century, i.e. roughly for a period of 1000 years.

The Kadambas were in their own days an influential dynasty that played an important part in the history of the Dekkhan. Mayurasarma or Mayuravarma, as he is also called, the founder of this royal line, emerges from the mist of the early centuries of the Christian era as a vigorous personality, and appears to have availed himself of the confusion caused by the southern expedition of Samudragupta to carve out for himself an independent kingdom and to throw off the Pallava yoke slowly. He was followed by a succession of capable rulers who strengthened and consolidated this principality and augmented the influence of the family. In course of time, however, this family split up into a number of branches, which ruled in various parts of the Dekkhan and of the Konkan till the middle of the 14th centuary, when these different Kadamba kingdoms were absorbed in the newly founded Vijayanagara Empire.

The work is divided into 8 parts, an arrangement which has much in its favour, being most suited to the nature of the subject. In the I part the author outlines the pre-Kadamba history as a necessary ground to view Kadamba history in its true perspective. He passes in rapid review all the dynasties that held sway in the Dekkhan from the beginning of historic times down to the rise into power of the Kadamba family. This is followed by an illuminating discussion on the origin of the Kadambas which leads him to conclude that they were an indigenous dynasty. Part II deals with the history of the early Kadambas, the Kadambas of Banavasi as they are more popularly styled, to which is appended a note on Kadamba chronology. This part is crowded with an interesting account of Kadamba glory ranging from 345 to 607 A. D. It is rather unfortunate that the author has not incorporated the evidence furnished by the newly discovered rock-inscription of Mayurasarma, known as the ‘Chandravalli inscription’ edited by Dr. M. H. Krishna of the Mysore Archeological Department in the latest Mysore Archeological Report, which, though not interfering in any way with the chronology adopted by him, would have gone a long way in confirming his hypothesis. It may be observed in this connection that the period assigned to the Chandravalli inscription (250 A. D.) by Dr. Krishna would mark only its inner limit while its upper limit would extend to 350 A. D. or even later than that. In fact 250 A. D. may apply to the first two lines of the inscription while the last line exhibits paleographical features indicating a later age, say a 100 years later. After all one cannot be sure of precise dating in the realm of paleography. There is hardly anything preventing us from accepting the author's starting date for Mayurasarma. viz., 345 A. D., and other chronological details that the author discusses herein seem to support this.

The III part is concerned with a blank period in the history of the Kadambas lasting for almost 250 years (607-974 A.D.) when Kadamba glory suffered a temporary ‘eclipse’ and Banavasi, their capital, changed many hands. At first it was captured in about 607 A.D. by the Chalukya Pulakesin II and remained for about 150 years under Chalukyan domination. In about 754 A.D. the Chalukyas surrendered it to the Rashtrakutas of Manyakheta who retained it for nearly 220 years, after which period it fell into the hands of the Chalukya Taila in 974 A.D, who counted among his supporters Irivabedanga-deva, the founder of one of the Kadamba branches, known as the Kadambas of Hangal. Part IV deals with the history of the Kadambas of Hangal. The author postulates the theory that the Kadambas joined the Chalukyas in their opposition to the rule of the Rashtrakutas and were rewarded for their help by Chalukya Taila with the restoration of their kingdom that they had lost in 607 A.D.–a plausible conjecture indeed. The history of the Hangal Kadambas ranges from 967 to 1347 A.D. The last king in this line was Purandara-raya who was defeated by Marapa and his territory seized by Harihara I, the founder of the Vijayanagara Empire. Part V deals with the Kadambas of Goa who started about the same time as the Kadambas of Hangal. Their sway came to an end in 1340 A.D.

Part VI speaks of a few minor Kadamba dynasties that were scions of the main Kadamba line. They are: - (1) the Kadambas of Bayalnad that come to power in the 11th century; (2) the Kadambas of Belur, also 11th century. These people had frequent connections with the Gangas; (3) the Kadambas of Bankapur connected with the Hangal Kadambas, also coming to power in the 11th century; (4) the Kadambas of Ucchangi, who claim direct descent from Mayurasarma himself. Their sway ranges from the 10th to the 12th century; (5) the Kadambas of Nagarkhanda, also claiming direct descent from Mayurasarma and holding sway from the 11th to the 15th centuries; (6) the Kadambas of Kalinga that are heard of in the present Mandasa Zamindari (panchapatra vishaya) in the 11th and 12th centuries as vassals of the Eastern Gangas. Parts VII and VIII are devoted to Kadamba internal history and geography. Three appendices, one on the Kadamba lion, another on Kadamba numismatics and the third on some unpublished Kadamba inscriptions, add to the value of the work.

It is not correct to say that the Kadamba lion, granting it was their dynastic symbol, was borrowed from the Pallavas (p. 377), for we do not know if the lion was their dynastic symbol at all; what we know is that the Pallavas employed the lion as a motif of architectural ornamentation in which form it has continued down to the present day. Judging however from the Pallava copper-plate grants we find that it is a bull that is often figured in their seals and consequently it is easy to say that the bull was the Pallava dynastic symbol. Again the author's statement about the Pallava gopuram (p. 305) needs revision as we do not know of a gopuram in the time of the Pallavas. The author's intention becomes clear if instead of the term gopuram he uses the word ‘vimana,’ a term which he has used correctly elsewhere (p. 309).

The work is well got-up with plans and other illustrations quite helpful for its study, the letter-press being indeed a credit to Messrs. Furtado & Sons, its publishers.

T.N. RAMACHANDRAN

Kaladarshan—APicture Album [Printed and published by B Rawal, Ahmedabad. Price Re. 1-4-0].

An interesting collection of pictures that calls for indulgence rather than criticism; the authors are pioneers of modern Gujarati art and are to be judged by the promise rather than their actual performance. Amidst much that is immature and diffident, is an unmistakable sincerity moved to intimate, if imperfect expression. Here and there, the classicism of early Indian pictorial art obtrudes itself in subjects where one would least expect them, but the bulk of the pictures are inspired by the Rajput ‘primitives’ whose naive artlessness they share; the music is that of the double-flute and not that of the Satatantrica. The inequality of talent and performance is in some measure retrieved by the magnificent ground ‘Ajanta Darshan’ by Mr. R. M. Raval and the dainty silhouette of ‘Abhimanyu and Uttara’ by Kanu Desai. The last in particular is a very creditable piece of work which the young artist has good reason to be proud of.

K. V. RAMACHANDRAN

Venkataramani: Writer and Thinker–By Manjeri S. Isvaran. [Printed and published by the People's Printing and Publishing House, Ltd. Triplicane, Madras, Price Re. 1].

I read this clever book with great interest because it represents, to my mind, a very successful adventure in literary criticism, the subject of which, Mr. Venkataramani is, in Mr. C. R. Reddy's words "one of the most brilliant writers of English in all-India." Mr. Isvaran in the opening pages of his book deals at some length with Paper Boats, a collection of essays which has deservedly earned high praise from English literary critics and it may be interesting to note what is Mr. Isvaran's considered opinion of the book. He says, "The title Paper Boats may be misleading in that it is fanciful and figurative, when the sketches the book contains are not fragile as flowers or evanescent as dreams but real portraits of South Indian life and character in their serious and vivacious, humane and humourous aspects . . . The Paper Boats floated awhile on their native waters absorbing the delicate odours of jasmine and lotus, then skimmed over the rough tides of the Anglo-Saxon sea, and when they

reached the distant ports of England and the Englishmen ‘undid the corded bales’ they found not strange and fragile flowers but gleaming cameos of Indian life and character." The author, later on, subjects Murugan, The Tiller to a very searching analysis and his assessment of the characters, Meenakshi, Sita, and Kedari is particularly brilliant. His evaluation of Kandan, The Patriot is done with discrimination and I quite agree with him when he says that this novel is a distinct advance on Murugan, The Tiller. In the second part of the book, the writer refers in very appreciative terms to Mr. Venkataramani's ideas regarding the decentralisation of the functions of the government and the rivival of the village life in all its ancient glory and splendour. But how far these mystic theories are practicable in this mechanised world, Mr. Isvaran does not discuss.

What adds greatly to the charm of the book, is the highly well-informed mind that Mr. Isvaran has brought to bear on his subject. His style is lambent and bright; his literary sense sharp and never at any time fanciful or extravagant; his analysis extremely careful, judicious and exhaustive; and while I was reading this book, the feeling was growing upon me that the book was by one who had read very, very widely in general, and particularly in English literature. I sincerely congratulate Mr. Isvaran on his bold bid for a place in the front rank of Indian literary critics, which he has actually secured and I hope he will follow this up with other successes. My tip to the Indian reading, public is, "Hereafter you must watch him!"

A. D MANI

And All That–By K. Iswara Dutt, Assistant Editor, The Leader, Allahabad, [Published by the author–Price As. 12.]

In his preface to Sparks and Fumes, the author concludes with this cheerful assurance: "I hope ere long to greet the public with a book of this kind or a book of another kind." True to his words he has come out now with a book, indeed of another kind. Here in this slender volume with its quaint title, is gathered all that has struck Mr. Dutt's fancy and sense of humour. Like the inimitable Mr. A. G. Gardiner whom perhaps he has taken for his model, he contrives to present his subjects studied from singular, fresh points of view. His essay on the ‘Pleasures of Unemployment,’ delightfully free from seriousness, is yet not without a touch of truth. It is a fact which goes home when the writer well-nigh deplores that we in India cherish no love for hobbies. The value of this remark, we can hardly exaggerate. He goes on to observe in this vein, "to the average Indian whose seriousness is staggering, the Mahatma's taking a hand in a game of cards when he has a slice of leisure from the proceedings of the Round Table Conference, would seem like Nero's fiddling while Rome is burning."

Something may be said, however, by way of criticism. In taking the English language for a medium the author has probably deemed it best to allude chiefly to English places and events. Thus perhaps he brings in Ludgate Hill and Monte Blanc, which may well be given up for more familiar names in India. The writer asks quite confidently in one of his essays, "who that knows Mr. Baldwin will doubt that he prefers his pipe to his Premiership?" It is rather amusing that he so readily takes it for granted that all the world must be aware of Mr. Baldwin's being a notorious smoker. But, the outstanding merits of the sketches ought surely to drive, whatever imperfections there may be, to the ground.

Mr. Iswara Dutt, we may say, wields rather a satirical than a humorous pan. His essay ‘On a Tuft of Hair’ shows him the master of pungent observation, that he is. His censure is like a smart steel blade whose cut is as sure as it is sharp.

We welcome this frail but brave ‘flotilla,’ as the writer calls it, with pleasure. The volume is picturesquely got-up.

K. SAVITRI