Reviews

Ancient Indian culture and Civilisation, by K. C. Chakravarti, M.A. (Vora & Co., Publishers, 3, Round Building, Kalbadevi Road, Bombay. 2. Price Rs. 9-8-0)

“The greatness of India is not to be found solely–not even mainly–in the achievements of her warriors and kings but in her literature, philosophy and art, in short, in the cultural sphere.” Most of the standard text-books prescribed for history in the general education course deal mainly with the political history. Researches have been carried on in recent times and much valuable information gathered regarding ancient Indian Culture and its evolution. The contributions of India in the remote past in the fields of art, architecture, town-planning, administration, politics, education, religion, philosophy and literature have been assessed, and many big volumes have been written by specialists in the different branches. But these are not within easy reach of the, general reader who may be interested keenly in culture and the cultural history of India, and yet without any ground in history. This handy volume therefore serves a very useful purpose for the general reader in providing a manual of ancient Indian culture and civilisation within a small compass and in easy, simple, lucid language. As Dr. jayakar, the renowned scholar, points out in his valuable Foreward, the author has sought to trace the unity and continuity of Indian culture for over 5,000 years, bringing out all the various aspects of Indian history and culture and the unifying factors behind it. It is really a remarkable achievement on the part of the author to have managed to bring out the main lines of development of India’s cultural history, without losing sight of its essential unity and continuity, while at the same time giving the most up-to-date information, based on literary, historical and archaeological researches of even very recent years, regarding the contribution of ancient India not only in the fields of art, architecture etc., but also, perhaps to the agreeable surprise of the general reader, in mathematics, astronomy, chemistry and medicine. He has also done justice to special topics like India’s contact with Greece, the spread of Indian religion, philosophy, sciences, and art in Europe, Asia and South-East Asia, and the contribution of South India to the main stream of Indian culture.

Similar volumes dealing with the cultural history of India, tracing the evolution of Indian culture through the Muslim British periods upto the present day, will be equally welcome to the public, and it is to be hoped the enterprising publishers will endeavour to meet that need very soon.

The Appendix giving statistical information regarding the languages of India, and the table tracing the affinity of the various Indo-European languages, and the Bibliography and the Index at the end are all well-conceived, and the paper, get-up and printing are attractive, though one cannot help regretting the numerous misprints, which are covered by the Errata running over four pages of two columns each.
M.S.K.

The Indo-Asian Culture Volume I, No. 1. July, 1952 (Published quarterly by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Hyderabad House, New Delhi. Annual Subscription Rs. 4)

“The genius of the Indian people has found its happiest and perhaps its highest expression in literature, philosophy and art.” The crying need of the war-weary modern world is international peace based on a correct understanding and appreciation of mutual differences in outlook and ways of life, modes of thought and aspiration. The institution of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, with the object of establishing, reviving and strengthening cultural relations between India and other countries, by promoting a wider knowledge and appreciation of their languages and literatures and arts, and establishing close contacts between the Universities and other cultural institutions, is therefore in keeping with India’s genius and the needs of the time.

The Council has already sponsored two quarterlies, one in Arabic and the other in Persian, for exchange of cultural kpowledge and understanding with our neighbours on the West. This new venture is therefore only a further step towards extension of the effort, meant primarily for our neighbours in South-East and Eastern Asia. Only, in this case, more than in the other, the cultural understanding and co-operation aimed at is only the revival and strengthening of friendly relations which we have maintained consistently through the centuries, from the beginning of recorded history.

The first number of the journal under review is introduced to the public with a Foreward by the President of the I.C.C.R. Maulana Azad, messages of good-will from the President and Vice-President of the Union of India as well as from Their Excellencies, the Diplomatic Representatives in India of Burma, Ceylon, Indonesia and Thailand, and a statement on ‘the Bond of Culture among Nations’ by the Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Inaugurated with such distinguished patronage and under such happy auspices, this official journal is sure to enjoy a prosperous career and contribute effectively to the realisation of the objectives of the I.C.C.R.

The journal contains in its very first number illuminating and instructive articles by distinguished scholars,–on ‘ndia and Ceylon’ by Dr. R. C. Majumdar; ‘Dvipantara Bharata’ by Dr. Radhakamal Mukherjee; ‘Who first colonised the East?’ by Prof. Nilakanta Sastri; ‘What are the Upanishads’ by Mahamahopadhyaya Vidhusekhara Sastri; The ground of Buddhist Philosophy’ by Dr. Bhattacharya; and also interesting and informative article on ‘The Hyderabad Exhibition at Delhi’, ‘Places of Buddhist Pilgrimage–Rajagraha’, ‘In the mountains–Darjeeling’, besides others–all by renowned scholars and specialists in their various spheres.

One outstanding, and perhaps a little disquieting, feature of this first number is the preponderance of the articles devoted to the various stages of Indian culture and the expansion and extension of the same in the remote past to the neighbouring countries on the East and South-East. It is no doubt a temptation, hard to resist, to Indians, to look with pride on the achievements in cultural conquest in the days of our ancient greatness, but the objective of mutual appreciation and respect in the modern world and the promotion thereby of world-peace and harmony, will be better secured by an emphasis on the mutual influence of the cultures of these various countries and India in the past, and informative articles on the cultures of these countries in the present, after their evolution through centuries of contact with several other cultures in addition to Indian, and appreciation of Indian culture and assessment of its influence on their cultures by distinguished scholars of those countries. However, there is no danger of our cultivating any arrogance in this direction, in view of the warning note rightly struck by our ever-vigilant Prime Minister, even at the outset, against any such tendency to self-glorification or superiority complex.

The journal is a welcome accession of strength to journals like Triveni, already in the field, and devoted to culture and cultural understanding and appreciation within the country and beyond its borders.
M. S. K.