Reviews

ENGLISH

Essays and Studies.–By The Members of The English Association (U. P. Branch). (Published by The English Association, Allahabad. Price Rupees Two only.)

Today when the keen controversy about Hindi and the provincial languages is raging round the country, it is refreshing to hear of an association solely for a study of English. It is remarkable too. It was not generally known to the public that there was a branch of the English Association of Great Britain in the United Provinces, which the Jingoists would call an out-post of the Empire, sponsored and run by Indians.

It must be admitted that the association has done laudable work in the face of great difficulties and discouragements. A tiny group of enthusiasts have endeavoured to meet from time to time to hear one of their members read a paper on some English man of letters. Some have even gone to the fundamentals, and in their publication, Essays and Studies, there is included a paper on The Teaching of English Composition, and also one on The Development of The English Vocabulary.

I am sure that the members of this branch would forgive me if I say that their efforts, though praiseworthy, are mis-directed. For a perusal of this book leads one to doubt the efficacy of a rehash of the original opinions of others.

I admit that it is difficult, even impossible, for an Indian judge the works of a foreign author with the same critical eye as a compatriot of that author can do. We have to be aware, even sub-consciously, of the scale of values obtaining in that country, and also of the psychological make-up of the native. Without a proper understanding of these things, we are not competent to judge, though we may admire and appreciate. We can have only a superficial idea of their thoughts. This applies with great force to the activities of this branch of the English Association.

And because of these inherent difficulties, we have to have recourse to the interpretations and criticisms of the author’s countrymen. Shakespeare has his Bradley and his Dowden; Dickens, his Chesterton. We have to read Dowden and Chesterton to get at the mental make-up of those authors. And whatever we feel and write about them is coloured by the critics’ explanation. Ours then is second-hand only, however brilliant, however clever.

‘Essays And Studies’ confirms this view. There are some noteworthy essays, but all are second-hand; there is nothing original.

If I may venture to suggest, this association has great potentialities for international understanding. Let us leave the commentaries on the English authors to Englishmen. Let the members of this branch write about our writers, and send them out to the parent-association to be read. The papers written for the parent-association can be sent over here for the members.

Further, the members can themselves write about English authors from an Indian angle–how far their ideas and doctrines are applicable to Indian conditions. That also will be a useful contribution.

Now for the book itself. Prof. S. G. Dunn’s address is a powerful plea for the objects of the association. He has also given some ideas about the work which the association can undertake. His lecture reveals the handicaps which an English Professor has to work under in the Indian Universities.

Rudyard Kipling, that ‘missonary of the White Man’s Burden,’ and that ‘banjo-bardlet’ as Hopkins characterised him, seems to be obsessing the minds of two at least of the members of the association. Mr. Amarnath Jha, the President, in his article on ‘Kipling as Poet’ has endeavoured to enthrone the Jingo preacher to an eminent place on the Parnassus. And if he fails, it is not due to any defect in his masterly defence, but due to Kipling himself.

Mr. K. K. Mehrotra, however, is mainly concerned objectively with Kipling in his essay on ‘Kipling and "The Bubble Reputation".’ He describes the rise and fall of this ‘Laureate of the Redcoats’ whose realism shocked smug and complacent Victorianism. The Imperial fervour which shook the phlegmatic Englishman due to Kipling’s fiery ideas "culminated in a great catastrophe, twenty thousand British dead on the South African veldt and the Saturnalia of Mafeking night in London." That was the lament of Alpha of The Plough who was outraged by the worship of the great god Jingo whose arch-priest was Kipling. The rise was immediate; and the fall was as swift. Mr. Mehrotra does not intrude one personal note in this absolutely dispassionate study. The other studies are also good, especially the one on ‘D. H. Lawrence and His Poetry,’ but none of them conveys anything original.

K. J. MAHADEVAN

Prayers, Praises and Psalms.–(with a Foreword by Mahatma Gandhi. Published by Messrs. G. A. Natesan & Co., Madras 1938. Price Re. 1-4-0.)

Gandhiji says in the Foreword to this book that it "enables one to know how our ancestors prayed to the one supreme Lord of the Universe and in what words they derived solace in the hour of their trial, or gave praise in the hour of their so-called triumph." The selections however have not been made merely with a view to be illustrative of the moods of poignant sorrow or exultant joy. They range from the earliest Vedic hymns to the Stotras of His Holiness Nrisimhabharati Swami of the Sringiri Mutt and of Swami Vivekananda; and they represent the varied moods not merely of the ardent devotees but also of the poets and philosophers of India from the earliest times to the present day; for, the poets and philosophers of India were dominated by religious fervour and gave expression in their hymns and psalms to exuberant poetry and abstruse philosophical ideas. Many of these hymns have been included in works on poetry and philosophy and in compilations of Stotras by publishers of Sanskrit books; but this is the first collection of devotional lyrics made without any sectarian bias and with the sole object of illustrating their varied poetic contents. As is put in Mahamahopadhyaya Prof. S. Kuppuswami Sastriar’s appreciation, Dr. V. Raghavan who is chiefly responsible for the compilation of these Stotras and their English rendering deserves a special meed of praise for "the sound literary discernment which he has brought to bear on his work." Some of the Stotras have been collected from unpublished manuscripts, and the detailed contents show how rich and varied a fare awaits the readers of this book. The more scholarly-minded among them will find ample information in ‘the notes on authors and works selected,’ which form the bases for twin theses on the development of the idea of God in India and on the history of devotional literature in Sanskrit, which, it is hoped, Dr. Raghavan will present to us as publications of the Madras University Sanskrit series.

V. NARAYANAN

India’s Living Traditions.–(Compiled from the works of various authors. The Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar, Madras 1938. Price As. 8; Post free, As. 11. Sh. 4, $35.)

To this eclectic compilation depicting the various aspects of India’s traditions, the President of the Theosophical Society has prefixed an illuminating Foreword. He says, "India must remember. Thus alone shall the world move forwards from darkness to light." Underlying India’s ideals is the fundamental concept of Dharma which Sri K. S. Ramaswami Sastri explains in the opening extract. "An ideal," says Annie Besant, "is not a dead but a living idea, exercising a potent influence on life," and she adds, "To mould the character, to inspire the heart, to illuminate the mind–that is the value of an ideal." Sister Nivedita next explains that "national unity is dependent on peace" and that "any country which is geographically distinct has the power to become the cradle of a nationality." In these days when doubts are again raised whether India is a nation at all, with its several Provinces and States, with its conflicting religions and communities, with its cleavages into Aryan and Dravidian, and Semitic and Mongol, it is refreshing to find Sister Nivedita recounting the essential and characteristic features of Indian nationality, such as devotion to the mother, chivalry for old age, personal affection rising to the height of religious passion, and a profound emotional development and refinement.

Other extracts include elucidations of the three other living traditions (1) ofKingship, village life, city life and Government, (2) of education, teaching and the arts, (3) of womanhood, marriage and the family. It is necessary in these days of impatience and idol-breaking, when the traditions are likely to be ignored at home and at school, that this excellent collection of essays should be in the hands of every Indian child so that he may float along the current of these living traditions to the ocean of perfected Indian nationality, and be neither Hindu nor Mussulman, neither Buddhist nor Jain nor Zoroastrian, neither Aryan nor Dravidian–but continue to remain Indian.

V. NARAYANAN

SANSKRIT

Sankara Jivanakhyana.–By Pandita S. Kshama Row (Printed by the Nirnayasagar Press, Bombay.)

The work is a remarkable biography of Sankar Pandurang Pandit by his talented daughter, Pandita S. Kshama Row. The late Pandit was a versatile linguist, erudite alike in Sanskrit, English, Latin, French and other languages, a true Karma Yogin, a true patriot and a friend of Swami Vivekananda.

Kshama Row has given us a very vivid portrait of all the achievements of her father. Sankara had a high sense of his duties, both public and private, and was an ever vigilant scout, for his motto was the famous scriptural text "Awake, arise." In collaboration with his very intimate friend, the late Mahadeo Govind Ranade, Sankar achieved very much in the cause of women’s education. He published, in the Maharashtra language, the classics of Sanskrit literature; popularised the songs or Tukaram and other saints; attended the conference of Indologists in London, and strove very much to revive the interest of the Maharashtra public in the study of the Vedas. He was an able administrator as shown by his sound stewardship of the State of Porbhundur for a long time. There has been a distinguished galaxy of women who have adorned Sanskrit literature by their works and Kshama Row’s work is certainly landmark in modern Sanskrit literature. It easily deserves the rich encomium given by Mr. N. C. Kelkar in his Preface to the work. One is easily reminded of the easy mellifluous style of Kalidasa’s Raghuvamsa which must have served as an example. It is, however, full of worn-out maxims and popular sayings. The work exemplifies that the innate vitality of the Sanskrit language is such that it can never become a dead language really and Completely.

P. P. RAMABHADRA IYER