Reviews

SANSKRIT-ENGLISH

The Mandukyopanishad.–By Swami Nikhilananda, (Sri Ramakrishna Mission, Mysore. Price Rs. 2-8).

Swami Nikhilananda of the Sri Ramakrishna Mission has brought out a well-printed, neat modern edition of the Mandukyopanishad, with Gaudapada's Karika and Sri Sankara’s commentary, with translation and annotation, and with a valuable Preface. The work has been very appropriately dedicated to His Highness the Maharaja of Mysore whose great interest in Hindu Religion and Philosophy is so well-known and whose life has been an example to the Princes of our country. The Foreword is from the pen of that great scholar of Mysore, Mr. V. Subrahmania Aiyar. The translation of a work like this is indeed very difficult, especially as the settled philosophic language of the original cannot be easily followed with appropriate words in English which will bring out the full force and meaning of the subject dealt with. A person who achieves some success in this translation must really congratulate himself, and Swami Nikhilananda’s publication is sure to prove highly useful to the student of Indian Philosophy.

The Mandukyopanishad represents the highest flights of Indian philosophic thought, and the Karika of Gaudapada is the greatest classical treatise on the abstruse doctrine of the non-dual Atman enunciated by this Upanishad. Hence it is said by Sri Sankara that it contains the quintessence of all the Upanishads and it is declared in the Muktiko-Upanishad that the Mandukya alone is sufficient for liberation (the attainment of truth). All this is said, because the doctrine of the non-dual Atman as the one ultimate Reality is the highest, central theme of the Advaita philosophy and it is in this Upanishad we have got the clearest, unequivocal expression and affirmation of this doctrine. Gaudapada flourished before Sri Sankara, and after the period of the development of the Buddhist philosophy in India. Naturally, therefore, he is led to compare and contrast this doctrine with the central conceptions of the Buddhist philosophy. He establishes in his Karika that this doctrine of the non-dual Atman as the ultimate Reality, is foreign to the teachings of the Buddha. But some scholars are of opinion that Gaudapada was either a Buddhist or was at least very much influenced by Buddhist philosophy and had real leanings towards it. Proffessor Das Gupta states that there is sufficient evidence in his Karika for thinking that he was possibly himself a Buddhist and that the first invocatory verse of the 4th Chapter reveals the great respect he had for the Buddha. Professor Vidushekara Bhattacharya also, in his article on "the Agamasastra of Gaudapada" published in the Journal of the Benares Hindu University adduces various arguments for the conclusion that the 1st verse of the 4th Chapter of the Karika is a clear invocation to the Buddha and contains explicit references to the Vignanavada School of Buddhism. His first contention is that the phrase Dvipadamvara which has been interpreted by Sri Sankara to mean ‘Narayana’ is a well-known appellation of the Buddha found in the Pali and Sanskrit texts. He criticises Sri Sankara by saying that the phrase is never known to connote ‘Narayana’ in Hindu Sanskrit literature. He further points out that Sri Sankara has not explained in his commentary how according to the Vedantic ideas Gnana can be said to resemble Akasa, and the Dharmas to be analogous to Gagana or space. He also criticises the interpretation of the Dharmas as meaning Jivas, to be far-fetched. By the way, Professor Bhattacharya even suggests that the Sri Sankara who is the commentator of the 4th Chapter of the Karika is not the great Sri Sankara of the Bhashya.

A careful investigation of the question indicates that it is difficult to accept the soundness of the theory put forward by these scholars. As a matter of fact, the 1st verse of the 4th Chapter of the Karika is really an invocation of the blessing of Narayana, who in one of his manifestations is said to have appeared as the Narayana Rishi of Badari in the Himalayas, and to have performed a profound penance in close association with Nara, and, as the tradition goes, the Advaitic teachings were handed down from teacher to disciple from this Narayana. Naturally, therefore, Gaudapada who also occupies a prominent place in this hierarchy of teachers invokes the blessing of the founder of this line of teachers, the great Narayana himself. When referring to Narayana and Nara in the Shanti Parva of the Mahabharata, the phrase Dvipadam Varishta is used to describe Narayana¹ and therein the story is told of how Narayana initiated the great Narada in the doctrine of the non-dual Atman. It is, therefore, very apposite that Gaudapada, steeped in the learning of our epics and in Aryan culture, should have reminded his readers of the context described in the Mahabharata and used the significant phrase; Dvipadamvara to denote the great Narayana at Badari. The point therefore of Professor Bhattacharya’s criticism is taken away. It is not also correct to say that Sri Sankara in his commentary has not explained the phrase Akasa Kalpa and Gaganopama. Though in the particular commentary on the 1st verse he has not done so, his explanation of the phrase is found in his commentary on the 99th verse of the 4th Chapter wherein he clearly states: "The Gnana which has been compared to Akasa in the beginning of this chapter is non-different from the knowledge of the wise one who is all-light. Therefore the Akasa-like knowledge of the wise does not relate itself to any other object. The essence of the entities is the essence of Brahman and is like Akasa immutable, changeless, free from parts etc." Here we find the clear exposition of the analogy of Akasa and Gagana referred to in the 1st verse of the 4th Chapter. It is to be borne in mind also that the Buddhist philosophy is only a dissenting system and therefore adopts much of the phraseology of the earlier Vedantic literature, though the exact connotation and import of the phrases are different in the two systems. While Akasa is sunya in the Buddhist philosophy, it is not sunya but it is an object according to Vedantic philosophy. While Dharma may mean a thing in Buddhist philosophy, it has many connotations in Vedantic phraseology. It means also Jiva.² The 1st verse of the 4th Chapter has been and can be given a philosophic interpretation consistent with the Hindu Vedantic tradition, and it cannot be regarded as either far-fetched or as the product of a twisting of the text to suit the views of the commentator. In fact, what has been indicated as the central doctrine of Advaita philosophy taught by the great Guru Narayana in the 1st verse of the 4th Chapter is stated in the 99th verse of the same Chapter as entirely absent in the teaching of the Buddha. Far from the first verse indicating that Gaudapada was a Buddhist, the first verse read with the 99th verse conclusively shows that Gaudapada was a Hindu of the Advaita persuasion, who has established with great power of logic and acute intellectual discrimination the highest Vedantic conceptions, indicating clearly how they differed from the Buddhist philosophy.

Swami Nikhilanandji has also in his Preface thrown in the weight of his arguments in favour of the view that Gaudapada couldnever have been a Buddhist or shown any leanings towards Buddhist views of philosophy. Often, in the heat of controversy and the enthusiasm for research, it is not fully borne in mind that Buddhist literature is only a product of the same culture as the Hindu and that it represented a later, dissident school, differing only in certain important respects but built on the same original foundations and expressed in the same language.

K. BALASUBRAHMANIA AIYAR

ENGLISH

Indian States in the Federation.–By N. D. Varadachariar, B.A., B.L., Advocate, Madras. (The Oxford University Press, 1936. Price Rs. 3-8.)

This book consists of three lectures delivered by the learned author at the invitation of the University of Madras under the Sundaram Aiyar-Krishnaswamy Aiyar Endowment founded by Sir Alladi Krishnaswami Aiyar, Advocate-General of Madras. The author examines with great ability and wealth of learning and illustration the present position of the States in the Indian polity and the position they are to occupy in the forthcoming Federation. It is worth a careful study by all those who wish to understand the origin and the nature of those intricacies and complexities of the Indian Federation which differentiate it from every other Federation, past or present.

The first lecture is devoted to a critical exposition of "Paramountcy and Sovereignty." From the very commencement of the discussions at the Round Table Conferences, the representatives of the Indian States have been putting forward their claim to sovereignty and the need for recognising this claim in the Federal Constitution. Ate the Indian States really sovereign, in any significant sense of the term? Is the sovereignty of the States compatible with the paramount power of the Crown? These questions are thoroughly investigated by the author in the first lecture and he has no hesitation in concluding that the claim to sovereignty put forward by the States is supported neither by history, nor jurisprudence, nor political science. Sovereignty is illimitable power; but the power of the States is limited by the superior authority of the Crown. It is only within the limits set by the Crown that the Rulers of the States are competent to exercise their powers. Moreover, paramountcy itself is unlimited authority. Its content is not exhausted by the terms of the treaties entered into by individual States. These terms have been supplemented by custom, usage and interpretation, and these usages have been growing with the needs and requirements of the paramount power. The attempt of the States to bind paramountcy within certain limits has failed. In the name of paramountcy, the Crown created States, abolished them, and modified their extent. There is really no difference in the nature of authority exercised by the Crown over the States and over the Provinces, and it is only in the manner of its exercise that the difference lies.

In the second lecture on "The ground of the Federal Constitution," the author points out how in recent years the paramountcy of the Crown was used for the purpose of more frequent interference in the internal affairs of the States–inevitable when once their perpetual existence is guaranteed–and how this has resulted in the curtailing of "their rights and reduced them to the position of mere permissive holders of administrative power." Meanwhile the opposite policy of granting more and more powers of self-government has been adopted in the case of the Provinces, so much so that the tendency of bringing the two Indias together under a common constitutional system became perceptible even before 1930. The author next examines the forces that were responsible for the creation of the Indian Federation. The leaders in British India, the Muslim Minority, the British statesmen and the Indian States have played their part in the evolution of an All-India Federation and the motives that influenced these various parties–and especially the States–are critically studied.

In the third lecture on "Aspects of the Federal Constitution," the author explains those anomalies in the Constitution which have struck all observers as specially peculiar to India. Between the Provinces and the States there is inequality of status. A similar inequality may arise between one State and another. The Instruments of Accession tend to perpetuate this inequality. Amendment to the Constitution is made impossible and a sort of claim to secede is given to the States under certain circumstances. The representatives of the States have more power over the Provinces than the representatives of the Provinces have over the States. There is no similarity in the fundamental institutions of the States and Provinces. The Federal Government has not the same executive authority over the States as it has over the Provinces. The author proceeds to account for these anomalies by pointing out how they are the outcome of the false claim to sovereignty put forward by the States, and the anxiety of British statesmen like Lord Sankey not to do much to refute such claims. The net result is a Federation which may break down in actual working. The only thing that can save the Federation from such a breakdown is the Paramountcy of the Crown which is practically left un-impaired.

M. VENKATARANGAIYA

Provincial Autonomy.–By K. T. Shah. (Vora and Co., Round Building, Kalbadevi Road, Bombay. Price Rs. 1-8-0.)

The subject of Provincial Autonomy has been dealt with by Mr, K. T. Shah clearly and exhaustively in this volume. Starting with an account of the evolution of the Provinces, he gives a general outline of the new provincial Constitution, and then proceeds to examine each part at great length. The book was published before the series of events which stifled the Constitution as its very inception had happened. Mr. Shah does not throw much light on the burning questions of the hour relating to the validity of the Congress demand for assurances, and the legality of the appointment of interim Ministries. But he has expressed the view that the presence of special powers makes the Governor something more than a mere constitutional executive head, with no activity apart from that advised by his Ministers. Inferentially, it follows that to ask for a guarantee of a non-user of these special powers is to demand an abrogation of the Constitution.

Mr. Shah questions the wisdom of the Karachi resolution fixing a maximum salary for Indian public servants. Incidentally, it may be noted that the maximum is rupees five hundred, and not rupees one thousand per month, as erroneously stated at page 123. It is however obvious that if the salaries of officials are to be in keeping with the general economic position of India, the Karachi maximum is by no means inadequate. On another point also, Mr. Shah’s view is open to question. He considers that the Instrument of Instructions is not a constitutional document, in the sense that the Act is. This is no doubt true of the Dominions, where the Instrument is merely a ministerial document tendered in the name of the Crown. But in the case of the Indian Act, a deliberate departure has been made, by giving it the form of a Petition to the Crown by Parliament. There is the further provision that alterations or additions in the Instrument also require Parliamentary sanction. As Lord Hailsham pointed out in the course of the debates in Parliament, this is a concession made to Parliamentary authority. The position then is that the Instrument is not without statutory force, but the authority of courts to redress breaches of its terms has been taken away by another Section of the Act.

Mr. Shah has done a distinct service by the publication of his book. In the next edition, it should be possible to provide the book with an Index, eliminate printing mistakes, and improve the get-up also.

N. S. SRINIVASAN

Altar-Stairs.–By Rao Sahib V. Ramakrishna Rao, M.A., L.T., Ph. D., Masulipatam. (The Liberty Press, Madras. Price, Rs. 1-8-0 or 2sh-6d).

This book contains sixty studies, in the realms of sociology, literature, and Theism. They range from a dissertation on ‘widow marriage’ given in 1894, to a tribute to the life and work of an Andhra Brahmo reformer, prepared in 1935. Mr. Ramakrishna Rao is a religious-minded man, and holds very progressive views on social questions. He is also passionately devoted to English literature, and his expositions of Shelley’s Cenci, and Coleridge’s Christabel are undoubtedly illuminating. There is, however, one aspect of the book to which reference has to be made. Mr. Ramakrishna Rao’s style of writing is reminiscent of the eighteenth rather than of the twentieth century. For an Indian writer to emulate the stately periods of Gibbon and Burke, is a task beset with danger. A sentence chosen at random may be given. The author tells us that "the only objective supplying the sole apology, is related rather to the urge from within a beneficiary’s grateful bosom to try and embody somewhat in condensed concreteness the appropriated essence of a glorious heritage, remarkable at once for its theological and exegetical, devotional and disciplinary, historical and biographical, comparative and commemorative, enunciative and applicative, treatises of no mean order."

Mr. Ramakrishna Rao’s studies will appeal powerfully to every earnest seeker after Truth.

N. S. SRINIVASAN

The Cobras of Dhermashevi and Other Stories.–By S. K. Chettur. (Messrs. Higginbothams Ltd., Madras. Price Rs. 2.)

It is not often that we are attracted by the look of an Indian publication, however promising its contents may be. Mr. S. K. Chettur’s collection of short stories easily wins our unqualified appreciation of its printing and general execution. But, once we take it up, we find ourselves going through its pages quite contentedly, with no further attention to the wrapper bearing the tri-coloured illustration of the hooded cobra hissing at its human victim.

The critical as well as the superstitious reader of the first story will feel interested in the success of the snake-doctor in curing not only a child of its dire malady, where medicines failed, but also a young Civilian of his ‘half-baked’ notions and his glamour for the West. ‘Love in a Tube’ affords us a vivid glimpse of an unsophisticated Indian youth getting crazy in his love for an English actress. But ‘The Tiger with Two Tails’ quickly changes the atmosphere, introducing us to familiar scenes of Indian village life, though the metamorphosis of a communally distracted village to an ideally peaceful one with a wave of the magisterial wand, is scarcely convincing. ‘Sacrificial Suicide’ indeed makes us smile at an author contriving to be dead for a day in order to make himself famous on the next. The ‘Squirrel’ and the ‘Mile-stone Thirteen Furlong Two’ have their own gentle surprises for us. ‘Disharmony’ paints the woeful plight of a young Hindu widow, whose hard lot has been only made more insufferable by the ending that Mr. Chettur provides her story.

Though some of the thirteen stories here have already seen the light of day, the book cannot fail to interest the reader by its variety and its clear narrative. The language of Mr. Chettur has an apparent freedom from labour, which is often more pleasing than the art employed in making the stories remembered. The foreign medium creates no kind of impediment to the author’s treatment of Indian themes. Perhaps the mind, more prone to delight in psycho-analysis, may not find ample food for thought in these stories. Still the author proves his unfailing sight of men and things, though we can hardly call it observation, which is not merely sight but insight as well.

The modern mind, which is expected to be greatly influenced in its conception of literary values by books like ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ may yet demur at the justification for the last three stories included in this collection. At any rate, many of us fail to receive from a reading of them the promised help to a sounder perception of the relation between art, morality and sex. On the other hand, we cannot help agreeing with what Dr. Rabindranath Tagore has expressed in unequivocal language, that "to be tempted to create an illusion of forcefulness through an over-emphasis of abnormality is a sign of anaesthesia. It is the waning vigour of imagination which employs desperate dexterity in the present day art for producing shocks, in order to poke out into a glare the sensation of the unaccustomed."

K. C.

KANNADA

Pushpa-Mala.–By "Sri Swami" (N. Rangaswami Iyengar), Bangalore. (Manohar Grantha Mala, Dharwar. Pp.1-166. Price As. 12.)

Pushpa Mala is really a garland woven with a variety of flowers. It is comprised of eleven stories, each one of them being characterised by a distinct motive of its own. The fundamental requirements of a short story as a form of literary art make it necessary that a short story should at once be a story and that story should be a short one. It is thus that unity of impression and motive and directness of method are emphasised in this now popular form of literary composition, and nowhere in the entire collection has Mr. Iyengar lost control over his material. There are stories of musicians, stories illustrative of Vaishnava devotion, and stories of ordinary people who have nothing exceptional about them except that they have seen life at close quarters and have experienced its bitter-sweet pleasure, so that their attitude towards others has been rendered sober, humane and extremely loving. In ‘Vishwa-Prema’ we have the loving couple Joseph and Lily, and Joseph returns to the world the love with which his own needs in his hard days were attended to. Lily learns from him the lesson of universal love, just as Kripa in ‘Gulabi-Hoo’ learns from her no less loving husband, Anand, the lesson that beauty in the world whether of flowers or of faces is not meant for the selfish and jealous possession of any one individual, but is for the admiration of Him who created it. The return of fortune in Ramabai’s life in the story ‘Bedavadaru-bekayitu’ is sufficient reward for the meekness and the submission with which she endured the cruelties of an adverse Fate, and when her penitent husband realises his culpable mistake one feels as happy as Srinivasrao feels in ‘Dera-Hoo’ when he saw in his daughter an attachment for the flower similar to his own for the dear child. ‘Duranta-Nataka’ depicts the tragic death of a young boy-actor of great promise on account of snake-bite immediately after he had acted in a scene in which he was ‘killed’ by snake-bite. The turn of fortune’s tide in the life of Ramabai of Bedavadaru-bekayitu’ though not quite impossible, is by no means to be explained except on grounds of poetic justice, and though we may somehow reconcile ourselves to the change in her fortunes, the artificial character of the circumstance of Shamu’s death in ‘Duranta-Nataka’ cannot but remain undefended.

‘Vishwambhari,’ ‘Udayaraga,’ and ‘Yendaro Mahanubhavulu’ are stories of musicians. The first and the third move around the same centre of interest, in that the two masters Krishnaswami Bhagavatar and Narayan Pillay look down in their self-conceit upon the musical prodigies like the child Ashwath and the girl Vedavati, and are in due course brought round, when they are shown that the young boy and girl could do what the professed masters of the art could not do. There is unmistakable similarity in the theme of the two stories and the sameness of motive makes the length of ‘Vishwambhari’ particularly difficult to be justified. Mastery in the Udaya Raga wins the heart of the King who restores to Krishnapriya his lost fortunes that had drifted through life’s irony into utter destitution.

In the case of ‘Alamgiri’ and ‘Bibi-Nachhiyar’ the stories are woven around certain historical traditions, the validity of which is to be taken for granted. The range of the short story as regards its theme is practically unlimited, and when we see Aurangzeb bowing down before a Hindu Idol, remorseful for his past and happy in his realisation that all Godhood is one, or when we see as in the case of ‘Bibi-Nachhiyar’ a Mahomedan Princess becoming one with God through her unquestionable devotion, we are seeing history through the coloured glasses of a romantic tradition. The element of the miraculous is of course to be accepted with a willing suspension of disbelief, for the power and the charm of such traditional lore lies principally in the poetry of the circumstances themselves. The devotion of Andal in the story ‘Pushpamala’ is no whit less than that of Sabari of the Ramayana.

With the solitary exception of the ‘Duranta-Nataka,’ all the stories end happily, and though in the case of the two ‘romances’ the principal characters Aurangzeb and the Princess pass out of existence, one feels that they have in their death won something which life itself could not give. Anand’s selfless love of beauty and Joseph’s love of the humble and the downtrodden, coupled with the masterful music of Ashwath, Krishna and Vedavati, make life fascinating as a rainbow. To live with love is itself love’s reward, and Mr. Iyengar impresses the motto upon our minds in everyone of his stories.

Pushpa-Mala is definitely a work of great promise.

V. M. INAMDAR

TELUGU

Vaiyakarana Parijatamu.–By V. Ch. Sitaramaswami Sastri, Pandit, University College of Arts, Waltair. (Andhra University Series, No. 15. Printed at the Ananda Press, Madras, 1937. Pp. iv-26-561. Price Rs. 3.)

Pandit Sitaramaswami Sastri needs no introduction as a great scholar of the Andhra-desa. His researches on the Telugu language have already been published partially in his studies on Chintamani, and this work is the first part of an elaborate commentary he has undertaken to write on the combined work of Nannaya and Adharvana on Telugu Grammar. The present volume is mainly the result of his labours at the Madras University as a member of the Research Institute, and the author has availed himself of the Opportunity for discussing various problems with other scholars at the University, working in the Kannada, Tamil, and Malayalam Departments.

Pandit Sastri does not rake up the old problem of the authenticity of Nannaya’s work on Grammar, and refers the reader to his previous works for a full discussion on this subject. At the very outset, he deals with the nature and function of Grammar, and after considerable discussion, comes to the conclusion that Panini’s Grammar is based not on the great body of literature then existing, but on the every-day speech of the educated and the cultured people of those times. The Vedic chapter in Panini’s work is indeed an exception, and but for this, the author remarks, the ancient grammarians including Patanjali support this view. Usage, and especially the literary work of the great writers, is far more authoritative in the author’s opinion than any number of grammars, and he shows how even Nannaya and Adharvana have followed this principle in their work.

The origin of the tadbhavas in the Telugu language is discussed at great length, and after criticising several views, the author concludes that ancient Sanskrit Pandits in the Telugu country used many Sanskrit words in their every-day speech in Telugu, and since they generally modified these words by adding Telugu terminations, these Sanskrit words gradually changed, and in course of time became the tadbhavas.

The letters la and ra (as found in Tamil palam and Telugu chiruta) form the subject of an elaborate discussion, and the author opines that these letters are part of the Sanskrit alphabet, although they are not found in inscriptions earlier than the seventh century A.D. He denies the accuracy of the order of the Sanskrit alphabet as given in the Mahesvara Sutras, and claims that a more complete list, found in the Sukla-Yajuh-Prati-sakhya supports his contention. He laughs at the accepted theory of the origin of the Indian alphabets, and severely criticises the views of K. V. Lakshmana Rao and other writers on Indian Palaeography. He believes that Nannaya perfected a new script, far more satisfactory than the prevalent script of those times, and illustrates the actual form of the alphabet, although there is no epigraphical evidence to support his views. The problem of the ardha and the purna anusvaras forms the subject of a thorough investigation; but the author’s arguments are not convincing, especially since he does not assign a real value to the epigraphical evidence.

These few remarks should in no way detract from the great value of this work. The problems discussed in this book are highly controversial, and it is impossible to expect any agreement among scholars on the major issues, still less on matters of detail. Pandit Sastri has clarified the issues a great deal by his thorough investigation and clear exposition. His book is of immense value for the study of the Telugu language. It is earnestly hoped that the rest of the work will be published before long.

P. SRINIVASACHAR

1 Mahabharata, Shanti Parva, Chapter 322, Verse 1.

2 Vide Karika, fourth Chapter, Verse 6.