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.]

ENGLISH

Evolution of Hindu Moral Ideals–By Sir P. S. Sivaswamy Aiyer (The Kamala Lectures, Published by the Calcutta. University–1935, Pp. 230.)

Sir P. S. Sivaswamy Aiyer is well known in Southern India for his high character, his great scholarship and the remarkable sanity of his views on all political and social questions. In the Kamala Lectures which he delivered first in Calcutta and then in Madras, he has brought to bear his usual thoroughness and dispassionateness on the important question of the evolution of Hindu moral ideals. He has in his mind throughout–in fact he says so in his Preface–two groups of men from whom he differs. There are the so-called Sanatanists who contend that the principles of the Hindu Dharma Sastras are eternal and immutable, and there are the Christian missionaries (of the type of Mr. John McKenzie, the author of ‘Hindu Ethics’) who contend that the Hindu religion has retarded the ethical and social progress of India. Sir Sivaswamy Aiyer proves that the contention of both these groups are baseless and are the outcome only of ignorance or prejudice. The missionary attack is almost a spent force now and we need not worry ourselves about it. We cannot expect the professional missionary in India to do justice to Hinduism. Justice and toleration find very little space in Christian ethics. ‘Amid all the wonderful descriptions of charity, of love, of self-surrender,’ says Hobhouse, who is quoted on P. 173 of this book, ‘we hear very little of justice.’ All the same Sir P. S. Sivaswamy Aiyer devotes a whole chapter to the charges against Hindu ethics levelled by Christian missionaries and patiently examines them all and comes to the following conclusion: –

‘None of the ethical systems, especially those founded on scriptural authority and tradition, can claim to be perfect. Every system has got its own crudities, defects and illogicalities. It would be unfair to institute a comparison between the ethical notions which find a place in the ancient literature of any nation with those prevalent at the present time and under modern conditions. Many of the defects of Hindu ethics which have been noticed in the previous chapters have their parallels in other systems of ethics also. If we find a spirit of discrimination between class and class or between the sexes in the system of law and justice recorded in the old Hindu law books, we find the same spirit permeating European jurisprudence down to very recent times and still characterising the laws relating to the treatment of the coloured races by the Whites. The inferiority of women in legal status and rights was as much a feature of the law in Christian Europe as it was of the Hindu law. The immunities and privileges enjoyed by the Brahmins in regard to taxation and other matters had their counterpart in the various immunities and privileges enjoyed by the nobles and the clergy down to the end of the eighteenth century ………..’

Unlike the Christian missionary Sir P. S. Sivaswamy Aiyer impartially points out both the merits and the defects of the Hindu ethical system and remarks that ‘the claim may with justice be made on behalf of Hinduism that it has made a valuable contribution to the ethical culture of the world in several important directions.’

Even if this reply to the enemies of Hinduism had been the main object of the book, it would have been worth while to write it. But the main object of the book is to point out the evolutionary character of the Hindu moral ideals in the past and to exhort the present day Hindus to maintain that character and work for orderly progress in the light of modern knowledge and according to the needs of the community. The Sanatanists all over the country will do well to ponder over the mass of evidence which Sir P. S. Sivaswamy Aiyer has culled from our Dharma Sastras and judge for themselves whether Hinduism has not adjusted its institutions, laws and customs to the needs of the time from age to age, and whether it is not our imperative duty to do the same in our own day if we are to remain faithful to our ancient seers and law-givers.

The greatest difficulty that lies in the path of the historian of Hindu moral ideals is the notorious disregard chronology on the part of the commentators on the Dharma Sastras and their absurd attempt to ascribe equal validity to all Smritis, irrespective of the age in which they were written. Nor are these writers consistent in their advocacy. When it suits their purpose they quietly set aside some of the ancient ordinances and pin their faith to the illiberal regulations of a later day which are in accord with their own prejudices. Sir P. S. Sivaswamy Aiyer gives us some telling instances. ‘If the Vedas contemplate only post-puberty marriage and the later Smriti writers prescribe the marriage of girlswho have not attained puberty, the authority of the Vedas is quietly ignored and it is said that the earlier rules were intended to be applied to a previous Yuga. If the later writers prohibit the performance of Vedic sacrifices in the present age, the rule is set aside in favour of the earlier rule which enjoins the performance of sacrifices as a duty of the householder.’ Where the rule of an older Smriti is in favour of freedom and a later rule resists such freedom, as for example in the case of intermarriage or interdining between castes, the commentator has recourse to the theory that the earlier rule is inapplicable on account of the degeneracy of the human race, the real reason, of course, being that the rule goes against current custom. In this way there has been a progressive restriction of individual freedom as the country gradually lost its independence and the mind of the community became stagnant. The past was exalted at the expense of the present, so much so that even fifth-rate medieval commentators on Dharma Sastras came to be looked upon as authorities, while even the wise statesmen and conservative reformers of modern times were looked upon as rebels and the strange notion gained ground that the Hindu ethical ideals remained unchanged from time immemorial. Sir. P. S. Sivaswamy Aiyer gives the lie direct to the latter statement. He says: ‘The history of the ethical ideas of the Hindus presents two striking features. They have not remained stationary, but have changed in various directions from time to time. Secondly, there is no breach of continuity in the main web of Indian Culture.’ This may be said to be the burden of his Kamala Lectures. In the various chapters of the book he examines such subjects as slavery, caste regulations, law and justice, the status of women, etc., and points out that in each of them there has been change in the past though not always for the better. But nowhere are the author’s sagacity, wisdom and insight better shown than in the last chapter where he discusses the drift of modern tendencies and the future. Sir. P. S. Sivaswamy Aiyer has not only made a very valuable contribution to the growing literature on Hindu religion and ethics, but also, like the true liberal that he is, he has pointed out the lines of progress which, while remaining faithful to our past, take into account the imperative needs of the present and the future.

D. S. SARMA

Daughters of the Dawn–By G. Venkatachalam, (6 St. John’s Road, Bangalore, Pp. 70. Price Re 1).

When a writer like Mr. Venkatachalam, whose appreciation of art and of things artistic in life is so well known to the Indian public, selects for his subjects some of the flowers of the womanhood of modern India, we cannot easily suppress our eager expectations of an enjoyable hour in knowing his impressions of them, necessarily tinged with a frankness and familiarity all his own. Indeed, as we gaze at the daintiness of the little volume and the charming names filling the ‘contents,’ a feeling of envy overtakes us that Mr. Venkatachalam should have been almost the first to write of these women and choose his printers from Japan, the home of fascinating art traditions.

The admirable taste in the selection of the representative types of women is exclusively Mr. Venkatachalam’s, and as he mentions in the Foreword, his book is ‘in some small sense, a pioneering attempt.’ Truly, one could not have wished for anything more to recommend the author to the good opinion of the reading public than his present venture of introducing to a larger world some of the noblest women, who ‘have played or are playing a prominent part in the political and cultural life of India.’

Srimati Kamala Devi, the justly famous social worker and fighter in the cause of India, takes naturally a leading place in this galaxy. Then steps in the representative of that illustrious family of the Tagores, Pratima Devi, a symbol of all that signifies the culture and rare endowments cherished by that family. Kamala Nehru, the stricken wife of Pandit Jawaharlal comes in for her share ofour sympathy and appreciation; for, nothing could be more genuine and noble than the import of her own words, ‘It’s all right to be great; but it is nerve-wrecking.’ Leila Sokhey or ‘Menaka,’ the Indian dancer, then appears before us claiming our attention as she should, having equipped herself with the technique of European dancing and taking to the revival of our own art with all the zeal of a convert. Sunayani Devi, quite appropriate to her sweet-sounding name, has an eye for the beautiful in nature and hence her consuming passion for painting. Then we get a glimpse of another reputed dancer, Srimati Hutheesing, holding her own sway over the enticing domain of ‘Abhinaya.’ Nalini Turkhad, the enthusiast in film acting, Rukmini Arundale of graceful form and enviable accomplishments, and Sofia Somji of indomitable courage in the gruesome national struggle, successively trip in before us. Then follow Padmavati, the promising warbler who was nipped quite in the bud, Daulat Sethna, the youthful Yogini with her enduring attractions for psychic and occult matters, Leela Row, now almost an international figure in the world of tennis, and lastly the personal friend of the author, Subbalakshmi, ‘a silent, unknown daughter of India’ made known by the author with a pen dipped in affection.

Mr. Venkatachalam in presenting us these women has given us no more than a mere narrative introduction to their lives and achievements. Though his language is easy and limpid, there is not in him the attempt at art, so very necessary to produce upon the readers a distinctness of impression of every one in this group, both of her mental and physical endowments. The result is that our eager interest is not altogether gratified by our perusal of the book. But in closing this review, we cannot refrain from expressing our partiality for the most winsome of these delicately chosen flowers, Padmavati, the Poetess whose untimely death deprived Indian literature of one its young hopefuls.

K. CHANDRASEKHARAN

Sita’s Choice and other Plays.–By A. S. Panchapakesa Ayyar, M.A., I.C.S., F.R.S.L. [Published by the New India Trading Company, Madras. Price Re. 1-8-0.]

The purpose of his venture, Mr. A. S. P. Ayyar points out, is deliberately to portray modern Indian life in this time of transition.’ The dramatic form is harnessed to a polemical disquisition on Indian thought in crisis.

The two plays in this collection are ‘Sita’s Choice’ and the ‘Slave of Ideas’ which is more of a sequel to ‘Brahma’s Way’ (the Dialogue) than a play by itself. If the contents were ripped of their dramatic guise we should have little quarrel, but being plays (professedly) they must be judged by aesthetic and literary standards. The drama is in no wise a peg whereon to hang one’s ideas haphazard and the stage is not a pulpit.

‘Sita’s Choice’ is another of those plots in which a child-bride is wedded to a middle-aged (and here also tubercular) man of forty who is knocked out of the stage of life to facilitate a remarriage of the innocent unfortunate. In itself the theme is not arresting but frankly commonplace, and against the possible plea that the drama is a mirror of life I answer that it must be a concave mirror to compel interest, as we hardly sit through the boredom of over two hours in our stuffed theatres to witness life’s commonplaces. The style of the play is lacking in crispness, point and brilliance.

The ‘Slave of Ideas’ is a maturer production, has more of the play-stuff in it, but as I have said it is by itself a torso of a play, being a sequel. The best way would have been to have written out ‘Brahma’s Way’ as a deliberate, straight-forward Shavian preface. As it is, the Dialogue forms the indispensable foundation on which the play rests. The play reads well, the longer speeches and the undramatic soliloquies excepted.

It falls without the province of the literary critic to sit in judgment on ‘Brahma’s Way,’ for the Dialogue belongs rather to the sphere of theology and ethics. Anandaswami is Mr. A. S. P. Ayyar speaking and the Dialogue (monologue, is it?) furnishes a brilliant body of religious theories, the validity or finality of which we will not attempt to discuss. But we would rather say that to explain dogma by dogma is, as it were, begging the question, and elaborating theories for Puranic anecdotes, however ingenious, just academic.

The positive test of a play is its enactability. But if G. B. S. can make of his iconoclastic paradoxes and audacious epigrams excellent drama, why not Mr. A. S. P. Ayyar?

P. R. RAMACHANDRA RAO

KANNADA

Shri Ramacharita–Balakanda–BySali Ramachandra rao. (Publishers: Sahitya Seva Samiti, Dharwar. Price, As. 12).

The book under review is by one of the elderly and eminent poets of modern Karnatak. The author, Mr. Sali Ramachandra rao, has already made a name for himself by his lyrical collections like Kusumanjali and Tilanjali. It was perhaps in his Abhisara, a rendering of Dr. Tagore’s poem, that he first discovered himself as an engaging story teller in verse and charmed the young and old of his province.

The present work is a continuation of the same narrative strain in the same metre of what is nearly his creation. The theme is an age-old one, the story of Rama as in Valmiki’s great epic. But the poet’s main purpose is to concentrate vigorously on the essential legend of Rama and Sita and give to the Kannada public in a handy and elegant form the most favourite song of Indian tradition. About ten volumes are planned of which the present one is the first, containing all the story-part of the Balakanda from the curse on Dasaratha to the marriage of Rama and Sita.

The success achieved herein is beyond doubt. There is an artistic restraint and skill in the choice of situations, an emotional oneness with the great characters of the epic, and a style which approaches the classical without being less popular. The popularity of the book is already a fact, considering the newspaper notices and the ready response of the common audience given to the author’s own public readings. It is being felt everywhere that good Kannada poetry even of the polished type can no more be a sealed book and a closed fountain.

There are certain abiding traits in Mr. Sali’s poetic self-expression. There is a unique sincerity and high feeling tone in whatever he writes. A series of bitter experiences in personal life have in particular made the element of pathos a homely heritage for him. He can thus handle a pathetic situation with greater success than any other. In the perfect ardour of feeling, his language attains a natural sweetness and ease. But it also appears that the very warmth of emotion that typifies his poetry is so overwhelming as at times to deprive him of the white heat of imagination. Consequently, one often misses in his works that balance of qualities which marks all great poetry. The freshness of creative imagery is not always to be found side by side with the purity and fervour of emotion. There are, therefore, repetitions of ideas and phrases that do ring with sincerity but clip the very wings of poetic fancy. At the same time, credit must be given to a few original images of the present volume, like the one in which Rama sees Sita for the first time caressing a fond fawn in her garden. It is a splendid idea, in view of the later longing of Sita for the golden deer, that gives a decided turn to the epic tale.

It is indeed premature to judge in strict terms the poetic value of this work when we have only the first volume before us. Nor is it very wise to call it a very great poem at this stage. But who can deny its singular narrative charm and ease of diction even as it is? We, therefore, heartily welcome the poet for the new undertaking and congratulate the publishers for the enviable get-up of the volume.

R. S. MUGALI