Introduction (Glories of Indian Culture)

Etymologically the term culture is equivalent to cultivation. The Sanskrit term, Samskriti, is more significant and implies refinement. The purpose of cultivation is also refinement of the natural condition of the ground. By the various processes of cultivation the impu rities of the soil are removed, the stone pieces and metallic dust are separated, and the overgrowths and weeds are uprooted. Then the pure soil is watered and manured in order to turn it into such a condition that when seeds are properly sown there will grow the desired crops, plants and flowers according to its full capacity. The capacities both mental and physical of human beings have been similarly developed. As the soil in all places does not require all the various processes of cultiva. tion for its preparation to grow crops, similarly the children of all families do not need the initial stages of refinement which is inherent in them. Thus culture primarily aims at the refinement of natural intelligence and capacities to its fullest growing power. It is revealed in the individual and social responsibilities and obligations spontaneously. It leads to such actions of individual and group uplifts as are associated with the spliere and field of domestic, social, political, artistic, scientific, literary and religious work. As a distinguished writer (Editor, Britain To-day, no. 84) puts it 'we may think of culture in terms of literature or art, or social philosophy, or science, or morality, or religious scrupulosity. We may think of it as a way of living, or a standard of behaviour, or the ideal implicit in the conduct required in the relationship between citizen and citizen, man and man, state and state. But from whatever viewpoint we may consider it, it must always include (what Matthew Arnold described as) "disinterested endeavour to learn and propagate the best that is known and thought in the world, and thus to establish a current of fresh and true ideas". Just as the worli is divided into nations and races, so it is divided into types of culture, each having its distinctive character, its esprit, its talent, its tone, as recognizable in a nation as in an individual. We may speak of Roman culture in their conception of law,

Grecian culture in their conception of freedom of thought, 'Hindu culture in their religious conception of love and charity'. Again we speak of Bengali, Tamil or Gujarati culture, or of Irish or Scottish culture, emphasizing certain special feature of each, and in each case we think of something distinctive and individual, or may speak more broadly of British culture, and more broadly still of European culture, and Western and Eastern culture, and finally of 'modern culture, which is co-extensive with civilization'. Civilization is equivalent to Sanskrit Sabhyata which means the sociableness or the fitness to live in a society (sabha) rather than individually without the privilege of and obligation to other members of a society, big or small. The term 'civilization' comes from the verb 'to civilize' which is derived from the adjective 'civil that is historically connected with the 'city' wherein more various people than in a homogeneous village have to live in peace and prosperity. The term 'civil' as opposed to military, ecclesiastical or political, implies the association of people of a non-denominational character having the refinement of city-bred people. The inhabitants of a city are generally more refined, better educated and better organized than the people living in country side in small groups and hamlets. This original distinction came to acquire a broader scope later on. The more advanced people who were endowed with a better intellectual culture, regarded themselves civilized in order to distinguish them from those who do not enjoy these facilities. Thus civilization stands for a high degree of intellectual culture, elevated moral notions, and a desire for material comforts. It includes material progress, commercial and industrial developments, social liberty and political advance. Thus it aims at maknig man happier, nobler, and better off than he is. It is characterised by the success in the conquest of other people as well as nature, the ainnihilation of time and space, the expoitation of new regions on earth and such other progress. It results in the elevation of a man or people by organized effort. Thus the ancient Greeks and Romans used to regard all others as uncivilized. Similarly the Aryan conquerors of India segregated the original inhabitants as aborigines. On the same basis the modern Europeans and Americans consider the Asians and the peoples of other countries and islands

less civilized, if not altogether uncivilized. On that ground alone they consider themselves justified in colonization for the ostensive purpose of civilizing others concealing the cleverly organized exploitation. Thus in ordinary use the terms 'culture' and 'civilization' have lost their distinction. In fact in general vocabulary they are found used almost as synonyms. But for an accurate and precise estimate of the culture and of the civilization of a race or nation it is necessary to recognize their fundamental distinction. As has been explained above culture would refer to the conditions of the mental progress while civilization should result in physical deed and material progress. The former would be associated with innate conscience and the latter with action. It is common knowledge that an individual may think and feel a problem quite rationally and may act in an irrational manner. This discrepancy is due to various reasons. The most obvious one is that thinkers and workers belong to two different groups. Legislators and executive officers have different func tions to do. The field of work, however, would remain common for both. Therefore in judging the cultural condition and the state of civilization of a people the affairs concerning their family, their society, their trade and commerce, their politics, their religion, their arts and sciences, and their literature have to be examined. In his Discovery of India Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru has recognized this distinction when he says that 'culture develops into a rich civilization flowering out in philosophy, literature, drama, art, science and mathematics'. Thu sculture is synonymous with moral progress, and civilization corresponds to material progress. Civilization is outward active form and resultant of the inward conception of culture. Culture or moral conception is expressed in civilization or material progress. The condition of culture and the state of civilization in an individual as well as in a group are not, however, stationary. They change from age to age and from place to place, and frustrate an attempt at generalization. But the historians have classified the condition of culture and the state of civilization, the humanity as a whole has undergone in the well defined periods of its progress without, however, any precise specification of time and place, into primitive, medieval, and ideal states.

In the primitive state the individuals and their instinctive groupings like animal herds are correctly defined as 'grossly selfish, absolutely callous and abnormally cruel'. Selfishness consists in regarding one's own self and ignoring others altogether. When one is grossly selfish he is unable to think of even his own parents or children. By instinctive impulse, however, the mother animal remains attached to the child during pregnancy and a short time after birth. But the mutual natural obligation and acquaintance disappear as soon as the child is capable of standing on its own legs. Thereafter the mother and child may even kill each other for some selfish motive. Thus the gross selfishess which was originally an inactive state of the mind results into a positive action. The callousness is a state of the mind in which one develops a sort of unfeelingness like the hardened skin losing the power of sensation. Thus it results in any sort of cruelty. Cruelty lies in a disposition of the mind which renders one incapable of imagining or recalling the pain of sufferings inflicted upon others. This disposition also results in a positive action in inflicting pains upon others and in deriving a sort of pleasure thereby. These characteristics, primarily indicating the mental conditions of the primitive man, led to the actual activities by which the primitive society is recognized. It was pastoral in character but organized agriculture and industry were unknown. Hunting and fishing by which the livelihood was earned were the chief occupations. There were no laws regulating the instinctive union of man and woman. Supremacy of cutoms prevailed in all matters. Patriarchal notion predominated. Personal property and rights were absent, might being the only right which was under stood and·llowed both by the strong and the weak. Thus the individuals submitted to the family heads; they submitted to the tribal head and the latter to the head of the race. This verges to the modern political organization coerced into the party system of government whereby the individual members are prevented to think or act freely. Sense of morality and religion was absent. A feeling of obligation to immediate forefathers which even the neolithic men expressed in the sepulchres built in memory of deceased parent, was unknown to the primitives. They oppear, however, better off than

the palaeolithic men in manual skill and use of metals and fire. In the medieval society on the other hand religion became the supreme concern of life. It is not traceable how this reaction came about. But the man became intensely religious in every sphere of life. Marriages were performed for facilitating the performance of religious rites. Children were begotten to continue the ancestral worship. Food was first sacrificed to gods and then eaten for preservation of life. All resources were applied in erecting colossal churches and temples. Crusades were led. and wars to prop gate a particular religion became sacred duties of kings and powerful rulers. In the name of religion all sorts of cruelties were practised. Men and animals animals were slaughtered to propitiate leities. Children were sacrificed. The chastity of women was sold to the imaginary deities and the immoral priests. The church became all powerful. Monasteries and convents were established to coerce men, women and widows to live unnatural life. The priesthood became too domineering. Their directions had to be followed by the agriculturists and the traders as well as by the rulers and kings as they became God's earthly representatives. The economic and political serfdom took the place of the primitive slavery. The class and caste systems were. developed. The constitution of chivalry was, however, introduced to protect the weak and to respect women. But agriculture, commerce, and industry were not given sufficient scope to develop. Politics proper were neglected. Kings were the sole owner of the land; feudal chiefs held charge in return for services. Thus there was no good government and order in the society. Those who retained the primitive selfishness took advantage of this disorder and built up strong states to exploit others. A reference has to be made to the modern society in passing by way of understanding an ideal society. While in regard to the primitive and the medieval conditions there is a common feature noticeable all over the world, there is no such general uniformity in the outlook and activities of the modern societies. It is only in a vague manner assumed that in modern advanced societies there is no room for the primitive lack of consideration for individuals and the medieval lack of discipline. Thus

the present aim is to combine the sovereignty of the state with the liberty of the individuals. A mere policy has been set up to ensure for the individuals, races, nations, and states four freedoms, viz. freedom of thought, freedom of speech, freedom from fear and want of food and clothes, and freedom of religion. Obviously these are contradictory ideals. Unless it is assumed that there is a uniformity in human culture and human civilization these elements of freedoni cannot fit well together. If all peoples of the world do not think in the same way no freedom of thought can be ensured for all. The christian missionary, the fascism, the socialism, the communism, the totalitarianism, etc., will impose its own ideals upon others. It will suppress others by force if they speak against it. It will starve others by economic blockade. It cannot allow human sacrifice, for instance, in the name of religion. In the name of personal freedom if you do not care for the chastity and sacredness of union between sexes there would be no difference between man and beast. If in the name of free trade and commerce you rob, exploit and starve others you are as selfish, as callous, and as cruel as the primitives. If you allow free practice of various religious customs your own faith or fanaticism cannot prosper. And if all peoples living side by side are allowed to have their own freedom of thought and action there can be no society. The free animals of the jungles have never prospered. The survival of the fittest is an inconvenient truth. Thus the modernism results in materialism in place of spiritualism of the medieval and fatalism of the primitive age. The scientific discoveries and the inductive and experimental method, devoid of a souni faith in the continuance of the present life, have been rendering this modern materialism intractable. For, the mania for progress means the destruction of the weak and survival of the fittest at the cost of others. The anachronism in the modern outlook is obvious, There is a sharp and reasonable difference of opinion regarding the ideal condition of culture and civilization. There is no consensus of the ideal as well as the means by which an agreed ideal may be aimed at. The parliamentary form of government has proved a failure in combining the sovereignty of the state with the liberty of the individuals. This system can never ensure for all

the freedom of thought, speech and action, and the free lom from fear and want of food and clothes. An experiment is being made by the communists to replace this unsuccessful system by providing equal opportunities to all to develop and denying special facilities to the privileged few. The anachronism of this system lies in the fact that the organized might of a people may only enforce the equalization of inherited or accumulated wealth but it cannot equalize the God's gift and inborn qualities of individuals by merely providing equal opportunities to all the members or a locality. You can provide necessary food, clothes, residence either directly or through salary to all irrespective of their services to the society and their callings and professions; you can never educate them all in the same or similar schools. But despite all these factors and elements of equalization the inborn aptitude, if not the unknown destiny, may lift up one brother or sister and drag down the other. Thus a problem has arisen regarding a man's relation to his society. The question is whether it should be determined by his right and not by his services'. According to one ideal 'all a man should demand is a fair field and no favour, so that he can count on rising to the level to which his abilities and his attainments entitle him'. According to the other ideal it is assumed that a man has a right to a comfortable living in virtue of his mere existence and without regard to any return he may make to the society with the corollaries that the majority have a right to commandeer unusual ability and exact special service from it, and that no man may receive more than a fixed maxinium reward. There can, however, be no question as to which of these two ideals is 'more stimulating to the development of intelligence, or more acceptable to plain self-respect'. The Hindu civilization has ascribed this discrepancy between man and man born and brought up without partiality to the destiny or the consequences of one's own action in some previous birth. This destiny, it is further assumed, can be altered only by the Almighty God if He is propitiated by our worship and prayer and good deeds. In any case an individual can build up a better destiny for the future by doing better in the present birth. The Sanskrit culture has been founded upon such a belief. This philosophy of life has the advantage of offering an explanation of the otherwise

obscure contradictions and incongruities of human life. It reconciles the individual to his personal disadvantages and inferiority complex. But it encourages all to improve their lot by personal efforts and to build up a better future. Thus it transcends the primitive fatalism and ensures the social aiscipline which was lacking in medieval time and which is aimed at by the modern scciety. It has, further, assumed the ideal and original equality of all human beings inheriting the progeny of the same God despite their class and caste differences, and it has prescribed for the achievement of equalization in the fulness of time, and to endeavour in accordance with the laws formulated by the seers to suit the inequality of individuals at birth and their group needs. The apparent partialities in domestic, social, commercial, political and moral and spiritual laws are intended to provide greater facilities to improve through the limitation of one's birth. There appears to have been no organized policy to exploit and keep suppressed the inferior groups as is being practised ruthlessly by the modern civiliaztion. In fact if there is a real parental honesty in providing a restricted scope for gradual and steady development the children improve quicker rather than in getting the greater scope which is suitable for the adult. A subaltern would be a better commander-in-chief of an army if he gradually rises in rank. A woman would be a better judge of a children court if she learns her own duties as mother and is initiated to the principles of laws. The Hindu legislators recognized these facts and formulated their laws for economic security of the family, community, society, and for agriculture, industry, trade and commerce, for kings and rulers, and for moral and spiritual advancement. The aim of this small treatise is a rational and impartial examination of these laws and natural conclusions therefrom regarding our inherent culture and civilization. Herein an honest effort has been made 'to be quite certain of our data, to present the monumental record exactly as it now exists and to interpret it faithfully and literally'. The rational interpretation of the data discussed in the chapters of this volume may justify the logical conclusions concerning the moral and material progress the Hindus niade for the first time in the world. It should be clear that from the remotest past India has been understood as a geographical unit. The daily utterance in one breath by all Indians of the famous

seven rivers covering the whole of India, viz., Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Sarasvati, Narmada, Sindhu (Indus) and Kaveri, and of the seven sacred cities, viz., Ayodhya, Mathura, Maya (Hardwar), Kasi (Banaras), Kanchi (Conjevaram), Avantika (Ujjain) and Dvaravati (Dwarka) reminds the people of their fundamental unity in India. The codification of marriage laws, which distinguish men from beasts, was first made in Sanskrit treatises. It is clear therefrom that the grown up young men and girls could choose their partners and marry with the consent of their parents. There was healthy freedom for the women. Girls were educated like the boys. They had the rights of sharing with their husbands all religious and social functions.1 Ghosha, Aputi, Lopamudra, Visvabara and others are credited with the composition of Vedic hymns. Gargi and Maitreyi took part in philosophical discussions publicly with their learned husband, the sage Yajnavalkya. The family life was well organized. The obligation and privileges of husband and wife were of high order. The sacraments were predominantly the parental duties towards the children until the latter were married and settled in life to carry out the domestic duties, upon which the stability and progress of the whole society depended. Thereafter having finished all responsibilities and service to the society one could reside in the quietness of the forest to reflect on spiritual truths in solitude, and lastly prepare for a peaceful death by uninterrupted contemplation of God through complete remunication of all worldly affairs. 1 The preliminary report of the U.N. Secretary-General on the Status of Women in Family Law covers such subjects as marriage, divorce, personal relations between spouses and between parents and children. It includes such information as the following: Legal Age for Marriage: In many countries, the legal age for marriage is as low as 14 for men and 12 for women. Among them are Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Southern Rhodesia, Ireland (for Catholics) and Australia and New Zealand. In Costa Rica the age for both parties is 15, while in Nicaragua it is 15 for men and 14 for women. The highest legal ages reported are 21 for men and 18 for women. These obtain in such cold countries as Denmark and Sweden and in some states of the United States. Divorce and Separation: Here the report differing practices. For example, in For example, in South cites many widely Africa, a divorced

Xiv INTRODUCTION The material progress made in India regarding the fundamental needs of a civilized life in respect of food, clothes and ornaments, and dwelling houses and furniture was unique. Even from the period of Mahenjodaro (B. C. 3250-2750) and especially in the Vedic period (B. C. 2500-1000) almost all the modern processes of agriculture and mineralogy for the production of raw materials were well understood and scientifically put into practice. These raw materials were converted into consumers' goods by organized labour and capital. The industrial progress of the Hindus was not a mean achievement. The science of medicine and surgery was first made in India, and the western world, even including Greece, borrowed many of our discoveries in these sciences as well as in geometry, algebra, arithmetic, wife can claim no alimony even when she is the innocent party. In Sweden, on the other hand, the husband must pay his divorced wife and her children an allowance, unless she has her own income or is capable of earning her own living. In Great Britain and Northern Ireland, women may petition for separation and divorce on more grounds than those available to men. But in Iran a man may divorce his wife 'on whatever grounds he chooses,' whereas a woman may take action only in the case of insanity or impotence. The survey cites several countries where women enjoy marital equality. Among these are the USSR where 'both spouses have equal status in their personal relations, including choice of residence'; Czechoslovakia, Poland and Roumania, where 'any incapacity attached to married women has been abolished'; and Yugoslavia, which has established full equality of husband and wife. The wife has the right to choose which family name she wants to use after marriage-her own or that of her husband'. The report deals with the legal relationship between parents and their legitimate and illegitimate children. These, it finds, differ sharply in the two categories. 'Most legal systeins recognize more readily the relationship of the (illegitimate) child to his mother and, apparently in the interest of the legitimate child, are reluctant to do the same in the father's case. In some countries, even if the father wishes to acknowledge his relationship with the child, the mother's consent is necessary and she retains her rights over the child'. In Sweden, a divorced wife may be compelled by law to pay her former husband an allowance if he is in need and unable to work. In the Soviet Union, the institution of betrothal does not exist. In Brazil married women, as long as the marital tie exists, are placed with respect to legal capacity on the same footing as minors.

astronomy and chemistry. The professional healers of diseases are mentioned in the Rigveda. A section of the Atharvaveda is named as Ayurveda (science of healing). King Asoka (3 rd century B.C.) built for the first time in the world hospitals for men and animals. Charaka and Susruta of the 4 th century B. C. mentioned numerous treatises and authors of medicine and surgery. Medical science was properly taught at the University of Taxila where physicians from various countries used to assemble. Decisions of all those medical associations were recorded by Charaka. Anatomy and embriology were taught. All kinds of diseases and their cure by medicine and surgery have been thoroughly dealt with. Chemical analysis of organic and inorganic things developed. Preparation of colours is also discussed. The progress made in medical treatment is remarkable. The Rigveda (1-1-15) mentions the use of an iron leg as a substitute for the limb lost in a battle. The Mahabharata refers to antidotes for the snake-bite of king Parikshita (Adi Parva, Chap. 42), and surgical appliances to treat the wounds of Bhishma (Bhishma Parva, Chap. 121, verses 5745-5750). The Bhojapra. bandha refers to anaesthetic by to anaesthetic by inhalation before surgical operations. Asoka's Rock Inscription (Edict 11) refers to manufacture of medicines and hospitals for men and beasts. Accounts of Fa Hian and Hiuen Tsiang as given in Beal's Buddhist Records of the Western World (Vol. I pp. 165, 38, 214; Vol. II. pp. 188, 303) also mention charitable Institutions such as hospitals, dispensaries and Punyasala (charity houses). The ancient tradition continues this day ard the Hindu system of medicine is still being practised with wonderful success in curing some diseases. 'Anatomy and surgery began to decline during the Buddhist period and were lost during the Muslim rule.' Of the two of our great medical authorities, Charaka and Susruta, the latter who was a surgeon of great repute, says (Sutra-sthana, chap xii) that 'of all cutting instruments and their substitutes, caustics (on vegetable alkalies) are the most important because by means of them deep and superficial incisions and scarifications may be made and derangement of the three humours (air. bile and phlegm) may be rectified,' but "with regard to surgical treatment, actual cautery is superior to caustics, because the diseases treated with the actual cautery do not reappear and because it can t

ure diseases incurable by medicines, instruments and caustics." Buddha, however, prohibited the use of lancet for treatment of fistula-in-ano and the use of cly sters also although he allowed the surgical treatment of birds by knife (Mahavagga, vi, 14-4-5). The instruments are classified under several heads, viz., Yantra (blunt instruments), Swastika (cruciform), Sandamsa (pincher like), Tala (pick-lock-like), Nadi (tubular), Salaka (rod shaped), Upayantra (accessory), Sastras (sharp), and Anu-sastras (substitutes for sharp instruments)..The blunt instruments are subdivited into 101 varieties and the sharp into 20 kinds by Susruta. Harita mentions 12 blunt, 12 sharp and 4 Prabandhas necessary for the operations of extraction of arrows and other foreign bodies. Vagbhata II mentions 115 blunts and 26 sharp instruments. For treatments of elephants, Palakapya mentions ten varieties of sharp instruments. Hospital buildings and equipments are fully described in the Charaka Samhita (I. XV. and XII. v. 45). The building must be strong and spacious, well ventilated, surrounding scenery being pleasing but free from draughts and smoke and dust, nor exposed to glare and the sun. There must be additional grounds for privy, bath-room and kitchen. Susruta (I.xix) directs specially built rooms for surgical patients operated upon for diseases like inflammatory swelling, wounds, etc., which should be situated in healthy locality free from draughts and the sun; the bed should be soft, spacious and well arranged and properly furnished and comfortable. The patient should have dear friends whose sweet company and wor is may relieve the pain and cheer up by pleasant stories. Charaka describes similarly the lying-in-room in wooded grounds of auspicious colour, taste and smell. There should be provided 'for the pregnant woman sufficient clothes, liniments and covers which should be frequently changed, washed and disinfected. The nursing room for the newly born child should be spacious, beautiful, full of light, well ventilated but free from draughts, beasts of prey, animals with fungs, mice and insects. The beddings, seats and covers should be comfortable according to the season. The child's bed, covers and sheets should be soft, light, pure and scented, and free from sweat, dirt, worms and bugs, and urine and faeces. The soiled coverings should be well washed, and beddings well

purified with steam and thoroughly dried up. A variety of toys to please the child should be at hand and be coloured, light, musical, beautiful and must not be sharp, pointed or of such slope and size as may be put into the child's mouth or may terrify (Charaka, iv, viii). The servants and nurses should, in all cases of patients, be good, virtuous, pure, fond, clever, generous, well trained for nursing, skilful, able to cock diets, administer a bath, trained in raising and moving the patient, dexterous in bed-making, managing, and compounding medicines, and not unwilling in cleaning wounds, and touching urine, blood, and soil,' etc. Dispensaries are stated by Susruta (I. xxxvii) to be built in a clean locality and the 'medicines should be kept in burnt earthen pɔts arranged on planks supported by stakes or pins, and in pieces of cloth, wooden pots and Sanku (kilaka). Physicians 'should collect and classify medicines, and with them prepare external applications, infusions, oils, ghee, and syrups'. Medicines should be used singly and also in combinations according to the nature of the disease and the extent of the derangement of the humours (I. xxxviii). Medicines of special scientific interest are the anaesthetics usel to produce insensibility to pain. Both Charaka and Susruta mention the use of wine to produce insensibility before an operation. Susruta says (I. xvii) that the patient who has been fel does not faint, and he who is rendered intoxicated does not feel the pain of an operation'. The inhaling of fumes of burning the Indian hemp as an anaesthetic was also in vogue. Before a cranial operation performed on king Bhoja (about 927 A. D.) he was rendered unconscious by a drug significantly called Sammohini (producer of unconsciousness) and he regained consciousness after the operation by the use of another drug calle i Saajivani (restorer of life). Our achievements in surgery and medicines alike were unique. It is well known that the medical treatises of Charaka, Susruta and Madh va were translated into Arabic (Sth century A.D.). "The modern medical science of the West is principally based on the Grecian system as preserved as preserved in the books of the Arabian authors and so in lirectly depenls for some particulars at least upon the Indian system." Aryabhatta (5 th century A. D.) for the first time discovered the distinction between day and night caused

by the rotation of the earth. Bhaskaracharya (12 th century) discovered the centre of gravity causing the fall of heavy things towards the earth long before Newton (17 th century) found it in Europe. The relation between the sun and the moon and the earth, and other planets and the stars, the causes of eclipses and the ebb tide and flow tide were also discovered first in India. Arithmetic and Algebra are chiefly the first discoveries of the Hindu Mathematicians. The numbers 1 to 9 and the zero (sunya) were discovered here and spread to Arabia and European countries. Aryabhatta, Bhaskaracharya, and Brahmagupta solved such problems of Algebra as came to be known in Europe not before the 17 th and 18 th centuries. Baudhayana and Apastamba (2 nd century, B. C.) dealt with geometrical theorems and showed how to draw a square equal to a triangle, and a circle equal in area of a square. In trigonometry the Hindus discovered the sine, co-sine. and versed sine long before it was found out in Europe in the 16 th century by Briggs. Bhaskaracharya explained the method to find the length of sides of equilateral and equiangular figures of 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 sides drawn within a circle in comparison with its diameter. In architecture, sculpture, and painting India reached for the first time a place of honour in the whole world. The city, buildings, and tanks, etc., of Mahenjodaro (3250 B. C.) are unique in the science of building. The Kailasa temple at Ellora is a real wonder of the world. Mount Abu presents unique construction in white marble. No colossal single structure like Bara-Budur (Bhudhara or mountain) exists anywhere else in the world. Sanchi gate exhibits a unique achievement. The arts of Karle cave can hardly be seen any where else. The iron pillar near Delhi has proved what the Hindus could do even in metal. Colossal images of Jina and Buddha are indeed bold construction. Sculptures of the Gupta age, carving all objects and ideas, have no parallel anywhere else. Technical perfection and artistic achievements of the Ajanta cave paintings (of 600 A. D.) could be attempted in Italy after 800 years in 1400 A. D. Indian made goods were also exported to Insulindia comprising China, Japan, Cambodia, Java, Sumatra, Siam, Burma, Ceylon and other islands. Indian

exports penetrated to Serindia of central Asia also. There were ample facilities for transport by land routes and sea routes From the Vedic time the knowledge of writing and use of coins as medium of exchange were in vogue. Thus the colonization of Hindus advanced but there was nɔ pɔlicy of exploitation. Hinduism and Buddhism thus spread far and wile. Kings like Chandragupta and Asoki of the Maurya dynasty, and Simidrag ipta and Chandragupta II of the Gupta dynasty built up an all India empire. But all of them maintained the sovereignty of the state harmoniously along with the liberty of the individuals. Even in the Vedic time there were representative assembly and councils whose majority votes were binding upon the ruler. Confileration of independent states was extant during the times of the Buddha, the Ramayana, and the Mahibhirata. There has been no country in the world whose ruler declared the policy of his administration in words of immortal significance-if I oppress and exploit the subjects may I be deprived of all the fruits of my good deeds in this life, next life, and descendants.' There was nɔ prince like Buddha in any other country who renounced the kingdom, young wife and newly born .son in order to seek remedy to prevent the miseries of want and privation, ani death and infirmity of the subjects. There was no king like Asoka who gave up the idea of conquest after seeing the miseries of the people of Kalinga resulting from the bloody war. In spiritualism and philosophical ideal India still continues to be the leader of world thought. No where else one can find such noble attitude as the following:- 'God is the only and same destination for all of different tastes, and ways and means as all the rivers aim to reach the same ocean (ruchinim vaichitryai rju kutila nanapathayusham nrna u eko gamyas tvam asi payasam arnava iva). No where else in the world the spiritual teacher has asked the disciples to follow only those of his own qualities which are really good, not others (yani asmakam sucharitani tani tvaya upasyani itarani) and to do only those which are blameless (yani anavadyani karmani tani sevitavyani na itarani). No philosopher like Patanjali ever declared-'one can attain salvation through the prayer of his own choice (yathabhimata dhyanaiva). Kapila the author of the Sankhya system, though atheist, yet was esteemed as God. No na

where else one can find an instance like that of the Buddha having been included as one of the incarnations of God though he had opposed the orthodox Vedic religion. In literature the achivements of the Hindus were the highest and the earliest. No literature like the Vedas (B. C. 2500-1000) developed anywhere in the world. The Brahmana class of Vedic literature gave rise to the Upanishads which contain unique philosophical thoughts, and what is known as the limbs of the Veda, riz., phonology (siksha), laws of sacrifices, domestic life and political administration, lexicons, rules of metres, astronomy, and grammar. These helped a quick development of the classical literature. One of the epics, the Mahabharata of 1,00,000 verses is eight times of Homer's two epics (Illiad and Odesy) put together. The Ramayana gave rise to the poetic literature of Asvaghosha, Kalidasa, Bharavi, Magha and many others. Bhasa wrote a series of plays in the 4 th century B. C. which reached the highest development in the dramas of Kalidasa and his successors. There are numerous novels, and story books and lyrical poems. There are treatises on dramaturgy, poetics, Kamasastra, Vastusastra, Arthasastra and Dharmasastra. Pali and Prakrit literature of the Buddhists and Jainas are also varied and extensive. Such a unique development in literature, science and arts was possible owing to the extraordinary facilities for learning and teaching of all the known subjects. The universities at Taxila, Ujjain, Amaravati, Nalanda, Kashi, Kanchi, Vikramasila, Madura, Vallabhi, and other places were well organized and well equipped institutions. The Chinese pilgrim scholar, HiuenTsiang, has recorded that at Nalanda University 10,000 students were provided with residence, beddings, clothes, food, and free medical treatment in addition to books and teaching. Is there any such University anywhere in the modern world which is so proud of its development over the past. This brief outline may help in indicating the secret of so much success in Hindu life of the past. It is true that Hindu life was essentially religious but at the sime time it was active. The Vedas taught us to perform the prescribed duties like well trained soldiers. The faith and belief in ol and in the immortality UI soul thus developed. The efficacy of one's effort

was thus instilled in our mind. Action and thought, and optimism developed side by side. The inequalities between man and man, and between man and woman did not upset the equilibrium of Hindu society. This may follow from the interpretation attempted in the chapters of this volume. As we have commenced our journey towards our own self government we should not ignore our long past. Pandit Nehru has truly declared that "the past is ever with us, and all that we are and that we have comes from the past. We are its products and we live immersed in it. Not to understand and feel it as something living with us is not to understand the present. To combine it with the present and extend it to the future, to break from it where it cannot be united, to make all this the pulsating and vibrating material for thought and action-that is life. All the long past of the individual, even of the race, has prepared the back ground for that psychological moment of action. All the racial memories, influences of heredity and environment and training, subconscious urges, thoughts and dreams and actions from infancy and childhood onwards, in their curious and tremendous mix-up inevitably drive to that new action which again becomes yet another factor in influencing the future". It is true that the past is 'unaffected by the storms and upheavals of the present', but 'it maintains its dignity and repose and tempts the troubled spirit and tortured mind to seek shelter in its vaulted catacombs. There is peace and security and one may even sense a spiritual quality. With the past, the present and the future are inextricably intertwined. It is to the benefit of those to recall past history who have got a past which makes us proud and hopeful for the future'. (Discovery of India, pp. 8, 10). About the antiquity of Indian civilization no discussion is required. In human history no civilization can claim a greater antiquity than the civilization that developed on the banks of the Nile, the Tigris and the Euphrates, and the Indus and the Ganges. The Egyptian calender commencing in 4241 B. C. indicates the starting point of the Egyptian civilisation at 5000 B. C. according to Gordon Childer, and at 9000 B. C. according to the New Light on the most ancient East (p. 12-13). Of the cultural periods of Mesopotamia, Vir the Obeid, Uruk

Jemdih Nasr, the earliest is dated at about 3000 B. C. The beginning of Indian civilisation can be safely dated between B. C. 5000 and 6000. "Herein indeed was laid down the foundation of our domestic, economic, political and spiritual life. Here took place for the first time the cultivation of plants, the domestication of animals, the invention of the ploughs and the wheel, the development of pottery and metallurgy, the advent of writing, the making of textile and other factors of civilisation. The city and village life developed side by side. Every material thing invented since could disappear from the world" as stated by Peaniman in his Origin of Civilisation "but the good life would still be possible" (Antiquity, June, 1925, p. 96). Our past achievements are truly the Glories of India, and culture and civilization as interpreted here will justify the title and plan of the present volume. It may also be claimed that no other single extant volume will supply a more compact and correct survey of the subjects in such a small space. It has developed out of the writer's booklet Elements of Hindu culture and Sanskrit civilization published in an incomplete form in 1939 hurriedly owing to the outbreak of World War II. In this new and enlarged volume a full chapter (VII) is aided containing a short survey of the Indian literature in Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit, which is the main source of information for the for the earlier chapters. This survey is mainly based on the standard and elaborate histories of literature by A. A. Macdonell, A. B. Keith, M. Wintraitz and Dr. B. C. Law, to whom I take this opportunity to acknowledge my gratitude. Chapter V, dealing with the Basic Arts of Architecture, Sculpture and Painting, is based largely on the archaeological description of the three great authorities, viz. James Fergusson, Professor J. Ph. Vogel and Mr. Perci Brown to whom the writer's indebtedness is gratefully acknowledged. Chapter IV on practical sciences of medicine, surgery, chemistry, astronomy and mathematics, etc., has been enriched by a reference to the notable contributions in Bengali by the scientist-politician Dr. P. C. Ghosh. I have also quoted certain thoughtful extracts from the Discovery of India by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and from the Homo Sapiens by the Most Hon'ble the Marquis of Zetland. I expect tliese references and quotations will inspire the readers as much as they have done the writer I

An apology has, however. to be added with regret for various defects with which no other among numerous works of the writer has been published. The printer's devil has done havoc to such an extent that no useful list of the errors was possible to be made. The press which was supplied with paper and an advance for new types when it undertook the work on May 24, 1949, lingered on for three years. During the first two years. pages 1-120 only were indifferently printed, of which the proofs were corrected by Shri K. B. Banerji who in disgust gave up the job thereafter. When the writer himself took up the proof-correction from page 121, it became clear that the press was not equipped for the work. The problem for the writer then arose whether the press should be changed or he should await with patience, and the fruits of his strenuous labour for years should be made available, even with all such defects, to the public who had evinced a keen keen interest in its first already exhausted edition and also in the portions of this revised and enlarged edition published from time to time in several widely read magazines. Friends and admirers insisted by pointing out the fact that readers of several Indian daily papers are used to getting acquainted with the contents despite printing defects, much like a species of swans sucking milk out of a quantity of water mixed with genuine milk, which is a common spectacle among the milk-men as well as all other adulterants of food materials in our present India of absolute freedom. With this expectation this unfortunate publication is reluctantly released from its imprisonment in the press as a long awaited promising child despite all its enforced deformities. Should it, however, be received with an indulgence at our educational institutions also where such subjects sbould be compulsorily taught and freely discussed if under the spell of secularism India, like Turkey of the past, is not destined to lose its identity in the world civilization and become completely denationalized. If the mere cost of its publication at which this volume is priced be realised quickly a better print in English and a Hindi version may, however, come out before long. I have to acknowledge with gratitude the assistance from several friends and sympathizers. But for the tactful manipulation by a distinguished pupil friend, Shri S.N. M. Tripathi, M.A., I. A. S., who was fortunately for me

and many others posted here for a short period as the District Magistrate, and without the useful advice I received from a senior advocate of Allahabad High Court, Shri P. M. Varma, M.A., LL.B., and from a distinguished journalist friend, the late lamented R. Saigal, I might have been involved in the meshes of a prolonged litigation. Shri Madan Mohan Nagar, M. A., a pupil-friend and the curator of Lucknow Provincial Museum, supplied photographs for for illustrations of Chapter VI on Basic Arts, which he himself revised. Professor K. A. Subrahmaniya Iyer M.A., of Lucknow University, gave me the benefit of his vast learning in revising Chapter VII on the history of literature in Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit. The learned librarian, Shri B. N. Banerji, M.A., corrected the typed script, and assisted his brother Shri K.B. Banerji in correcting the proofs of the first 120 pages. The former is a life long pupil friend, and the latter is also conversant with Sanskrit texts on which our sacraments and sacrifices (Chapter I) are based. They spared no pains in assisting me even in my dealing with the press. Another successful pupil, Shri Kashinath Dikshit, M.A., I. P., read for his own examinations the typed copy and put in the diacritical marks. Shri Ram Shankar Dwivedi, M.A., and Shri Jai Prakash Srivastava, M.A., two most devoted pupil friends, readily took all sorts of troubles in bringing out this volume. Another pupil, Shri Rama Datta Shukla, M..A., and his learned father Pandit Devi Datta Shukla, who recommended the Press, and Raj Vaidya Shri Sakticharan Roy who is immensely interested in the preservation of our Sanatana Dharma, tried in vain to expedite the printing but have earned my gratitude. Another young friend, Shri Narendra Saigal, B. A., the proprietor of the Karmayogi Press, gave me the benefit of his expert knowledge of publication of books in these difficult days of scarcity and high prices of all materials. Similarly Shri H. P. Ghosh, the manager of the Indian Press, Ltd., assisted me readily by printing the plates and the jacket, and making arrangement for the binding. I shall ever remain grateful to all these friends. SWASTIKA BHAWAN ALLAHABAD May 19, 1952 } P. K. ACHARYA