Reviews

The Aryan Home by Sri Kopalle Sivakameswara Rao. Published by the author at Kakinada. (Andhra Pradesh) Pp. 144.

This is an attempt, as the author reveals in his introductory note, by a teacher, after retirement after twenty-eight long years of service in a First Grade College, to enjoy a spell of free intellectual exercise, in the bracing atmosphere of independent Bharat. He confesses that it is the excursion of an amateur into the province of the philologist, with which he had nothing to do, nor anyone else, in the College in which he had spent all the years of his professional career. The choice of the subject, at the risk of being open to the charge of foolhardiness, is obviously due to the laudable sentiment of patriotism, shared by many others in the country, smarting for a long time, under a sense of injustice to our nation, our traditional culture and Sanskrit, the language of our national culture, at the hands of the philologists of the West, in their investigations and determinations relating to the parent language and the original home of the Aryans. He feels rightly, that the time has come for us to cease from complaining and to question the validity of the conclusions of the Western philologists on this subject, to meet them in argument on their own ground and with their own weapons, and establish the view based on our ancient authoritative records, that Bharat was the home of the Aryans and the place of origin of the human race and Sanskrit was the parent language of the so-called Indo-European family of languages and all languages on the earth.

The author, with characteristic modesty, acknowledges his indebtedness to Pandit Lakshmi Dhar Kalla of the Delhi University, whose work in this line had stimulated him to write this book and explains that the present venture is intended to serve as an introduction to a more systematic study of the subject by himself. Even a cursory glance through the pages of this slim volume should win the interest of the general reader for the problem discussed in it, convince him of the prima facie justice of his cause and enable him to realise the importance of right conclusions on the subject, and similar exercises in intellectual freedom and integrity on the part of the educated among us with pretensions to culture, to justify the political freedom we enjoy, by our own contribution to the scholarship and culture of the world, by researches of the same kind in the different branches of knowledge. We look forward eagerly to the more systematic study of the subject, which the author promises to publish, in the near future.

The Call of the Jagadguru by Sri R. Krishnaswami Aiyar, M. A., B. L., Tirunalveli, with a Foreword by Dr. C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar. (Published by Ganesh & Co. Private Ltd. Pages 188. Price Rs. 4)

This is a collection of the talks given by His Holiness, the late Sri Chandrasekhara Bharati Swami, on different occasions, over a period of several months. Selected, classified and arranged in a meaningful sequence, in chapters dealing with right living, pursuit of happiness, true education, purification of the mind and need for strenuous effort, by a devoted disciple, who has gathered the precious words as they dropped from the lips of the master, and an accomplished savant, who had, by his previous publications of a similar nature, proved his unique competence to transmit such words of wisdom, the volume should be welcome to earnest souls all over the country and abroad, eager for such spiritual nourishment and guidance in shaping their life and conduct in the confusing atmosphere of the modern world, in conformity with the basic principles of our traditional culture and religion of the land.

Such guidance is available in this volume in the traditional form of sublime truths uttered by a realised soul in simple homely similes and anecdotes, addressed to devoted and beloved disciples.

It is the broadcasting of such wisdom alone that can stem the tide of the alarming fall in the moral standards of our society, which has to be arrested first, by a strenuous national effort before we can expect any good results from other, efforts of the nation for any kind of progress in any direction, economic, educational, social and cultural. As Dr. C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar points out in the preface, the author Sri R. Krishnaswami Aiyar deserves the thanks of every one for having performed a valuable service to the nation and pious duty to the departed sage with due reverence and affection.

M. SIVAKAMAYYA

Till We Meet by Mikhail Naimy. (Published by The Indian Institute of World Culture, 6 North Public Square Road, Bangalore 4. Pp. 242. Price Rs. 7.50)

Till We Meet is a collection of rather unconventional stories written by Mikhail Naimy of Lebanon. I call the stories unconventional, because they are different from the conception of a story which an average reader has. Invariably, the stories start off well and capture the reader from the beginning. The reader feels the excitement and suspense grow; he is absorbed in the weird and rather mystical atmosphere of the story, but as he reaches the end, he has often a feeling of frustration and disappointment. The end of the story is perhaps less dramatic than what he expected. The longest story–Till We Meet is disappointing in that sense.

Almost all stories deal with extraordinary characters–artists and people with rare gifts. Leonardo in the story Till We Meet, kills Baha with playing on the violin; M. Alphonse can foresee the death of his host. The Hyena can convert gold into ashes and ashes into gold. Perhaps, the most interesting stories in this volume are–Earthquake, Defrosting the Earth, Hell and Suicide.

Altogether, Till We Meet is a collection of refreshingly original stories gracefully written and remarkably charming and interesting. Mikhail Naimy has a beautiful prose style and it is a treat to read his stories.

N. K. SETH

Diamond Jubilee Souvenir of Messrs. G. A. Natesan & Co. Madras. Cr. Quarto size. Pages 183.

Shashtiabdapurthi in the life of an individual has long been regarded in our country as an occasion not only for a pause and retrospect in life’s journey, but also as an opportunity for spiritual rejuvenation for higher and nobler efforts.

Started sixty years ago on the Vijayadasami Day in 1897, this “One man firm” as Rajaji calls it, of Mr. G. A. Natesan has established itself as a “great instrument for national education,” bringing to the hands of the students and the scholars, and the aspirant, the master, the worker, the politician and the administrator, cheap, ready-made monographs on every aspect of our national life. Copious morsels of knowledge which would otherwise have been dearly bought, and assimilated only with infinite travail, thus became accessible to one and all in a condensed and, if we may say so, a pre-digested form. Over a thousand books, we are told, have issued from this enterprising firm of Publishers; and a glance at the list willshow how India’s Vedic, epic and classical antiquity, as much as the living present, has had its share of attention.

As Sir C. P. observes, these books are “a conspectus of the multiform progress and development of India from ancient days to the present times.” The generous tributes and the handsome acknowledgements published in the Souvenir speak to the great part played by Natesan in the building of the Indian nation, and the moulding of the thought of some of our foremost leaders and intellectuals.

It is not the foresight and judicious planning of a mere businessman that could have elicited such meed of praise. To Mr. Natesan, this work of publication was a Tapas. He went abroad in search of knowledge, and when he found it, shared it with all the world. He accepted it wherever he found it; to him there was only India, and no north or south. In the emotional integration of our country, his part was great, though unostentatious.

Those on whom the burden now rests are aware of the new tasks and duties that await them. In keeping the torch of knowledge bright, in their efforts at dissemination of knowledge, the fervent prayers of one and all are with them. Thus has been a story worth telling. The record is sweet and the promise sweeter.

The Souvenir is well got up with some rare photographs of Gandhiji and other leaders. There are valuable articles on various subjects.
K. S. R.

SANSKRIT

Srimad Bhagavadgita: (Text with translation, introduction and appendices) by N. V. Gunaji, B.A., LL. B., Crown 8-vo. size. Pp. 368. Price Rs. 3. Phoenix Publications, Chirra Bazaar, Bombay-2.

In the introduction extending over 54 pages the translator raises some problems as to the nature of Sanjaya, Sri Krishna and the Bhagavadgita, tries to answer some of them in his own way and leaves off the others unanswered. The gospel preached by the author of the Bhagavadgita, the translator believes, is the “Samanvaya” or Synthesis of Bhakti, Jnana and Karma Yogas.
B.K.R.

TELUGU

Kula Sekhara Mahipala Charitramu: by Sesham Raghunatha Raya. Edited by Sri T. Chandrasekharam, M. A., L. T., Curator, Oriental Manuscripts Library, Madras. Pages 175. Price 2-4-0

The poet Raghunatha Raya intended to write the life history of a devotee of Lord Vishnu in “Misra Kavitabandha” (Cf. Pp. 3-14) and chose the King Kulasekhara, one of the celebrated AI-wars of the Vaishnava Sampradaya as the hero of his poem, which was completed by him with marvellous success.

Bhakti is the predominant sentiment of the theme, while love in union and separation occupies a subordinate position. The language and idiom, fancy and imagery, figures of speech and sense of sound, and the descriptions in this work, show the influence of the Telugu Prabandhas like Amukta Malyada, Vasu Charitra and Parijatapaharana on the poet to a great extent; and assign him a place of honour among the poets of Prabandhas. Students of Telugu literature will ever be much beholden to the authorities of the Oriental Manuscripts Library for the publication of this precious gem of Telugu literature.

MARATHI

Bhavasaritaby Vasudev Bhaskar Thamale. (Published by K. B. Dawale, Karnatak Publishing House, Bombay. Pages 165. Price Rs. 3.)

In the preface to this collection of poems, Thamale makes a reference to “Bhavalahari” his first poetic collection published in 1932 and the warm reception it had from the readers. While promising them no less an interesting collection he dedicates the book under review to Saradadevi, the Goddess of learning.

The collection ranges in subject matter from lullabys and verses for children to poems for grown-ups and songs of philosophy. There are certain interesting translations from English like “Athaya Sundari” or La Belle Dame Sans Merci of Keats, “Lilli Cha Bhugola” or Lelly’s Globe of Charles Tennyson Turnet and “Amaratechya Pratitivareela Geet” or Ode on Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood of Wordsworth, which are rare and valuable giftsto Marathi literature. “Swatantrayasaptak” and “Swatantrasamara” are two long poems on Freedom and the Freedom Struggle which manifest a real patriotic spirit in the writer.

As the poet has rightly pointed out in his preface, his poems are the outcome of individuality and “circumstantiality”, blended into a pleasing poetic expression which, of course, he has not failed to achieve.

The book is agreeably presented and inbold print. We offer our beauty congratulations to Thammale for his second “feast of thought.”

V. V. TONPE