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Letters by Srinivasa Sastri edited by T. N. Jagadisan. Asia Publishing House, Bombay. Pages 366. Price Rs. 16-50.

Epistolary Composition is, by its very nature, conducive to sincerity of thought and sentiment, and simplicity and naturalness in style, and consequently to direct revelation of the personality of the writer. If the writer happens to be endowed with an impressive and attractive personality, and a mastery of expression in the language employed, and is concerned with important events, and interesting situations and characters, the letter acquires literary quality.

The Right Honourable V. S. Srinivasa Sastri was well known, even in his early career as a teacher, for his consummate mastery of the English language. He was an ardent patriot, who gave up his career as a teacher, in which he had earned an enviable reputation and achieved a remarkable success at a comparatively young age of 37, to join the Servants of India Society, so that he might devote himself entirely to the service of his country. By the sheer weight of his character and talents, he came to playa prominent part in historic events, came into contact with important men in high office or position in public life, and maintained friendly relations with them. For over forty years, from 1905 in which he applied for membership of the Servants of India Society, till almost his death in 1946, he occupied an honoured and distinguished position in thepublic life of his country.

So when in 1944 his letters were first published in a volume, it was hailed as an enrichment of our literature as well as our public life. No wonder; such a distinguished scholar and discerning judge as Sri P. S. Sivaswami Aiyar had declared 鈥淢r. Sastri is our greatest letter-writer. I have had letters from almost all of our great Indians. I don't think any other can write a letter half as delightfully as Sastriar. There are other orators; but he is our only letter-writer.鈥�

As the editor points out in his preface to the first edition, 鈥淎 certain pure engagingness, an effortless manner, an unmistakable glow of human warmth, a keen and lofty intellectuality, and a charming personality, excelling and revealed, in the creation of character, incident, attitude and style,鈥� constitute the uniform and distinguishing quality of the letters and assure for the author an important place in Indo-Anglian literature as a master in the art of letter-writing.

A special feature of this volume of letters is the inclusion in it, in addition to the letters of the author, of several others on received by him from his correspondents. These serve not only to enable the reader to understand clearly and appreciate adequately the letters of Sri Sastriar, but also to render the situation, in which the letters were written, dramatically vivid.

The addition, in the second edition, of many new letters was relating to the Round Table Conference in London, enhances the value of the publication considerably, by contributing to provide for tragic the readers, almost an exhaustive account of the parts played by the various illustrious participants, Indian and British, of the historic Conference, in the discussions, and through them, in the evolution of the political destiny of the country at a critical juncture.

The letters of Mr. Sastri, published in this volume, are addressed to a wide circle, the members of his family, friends, followers, men in high office and important positions in public life, and therefore offer a wide variety in content, attitude, tone and style. They cover a long period, almost the entire public career, of the great patriot and statesman, extending over more than forty years, beginning with his letter to Gokhale in 1905, seeking admission to The Servants of India Society, and ending with the letter from his deathbed in 1946 to Mahatma Gandhi. Thus they provide an interesting study of the public life of the country during the historic struggle for political freedom in the first half of this century.

The youngsters of the present generation who could not have enjoyed the pleasure and privilege of listening to the eloquent speeches of the renowned 鈥榮ilver-tongued orator of the Empire鈥� should all feel grateful to the editor for the compensation he has provided for them, in this publication of the letters of the statesman, which, according to him, reveal the personality, talent and character of the great man, more clearly and fully.

The book is a classic, and is bound to occupy a prominent place in Indo-Anglian literature. It should prove a boon to students and teachers of English language and literature at our Universities, in particular, and to all interested in literature, politics and public affairs, in general.

The appendices giving the main events in Mr. Sastri鈥檚 life, and select biographical notes on the personalities referred to in the letters, should be both interesting and helpful to the readers.

The printing and get-up of the book is very good as is usual with The Asia Publishing House.
鈥揗. S. K.

Dawn of Wisdom by Swami Rajeswarananda. Published by Ganesh & Co. (Madras) Private Limited. Pp. 260. Price Rs. 5.

The book constitutes the second volume containing the editorials written by the learned author as Chief Editor of the journal The Call Divine. The first volume was entitled The Divine Awakener containing the editorials upto 1960. Dawn of Wisdom contains the editorials written after 1960 in the above journal. Swami Rajeswarananda has covered, in the present volume, a large number of subjects dealing with the psycho-spiritual life of man. The author combines simplicity with lucidity thus making difficult and abstruse subjects fundamentally fall in line with the modern mystical trend in religious and philosophical thought. It is most significant to note that modern man, who otherwise resents any mention of religion, can be persuaded to respond sympathetically to religious experience through the doorway of modern science and the investigations of modern psychology. Swami Rajeswarananda has used the doorway of psychology to give his readers a glimpse of deep and profound religious experience.

In dealing with the subject of religion and spirituality, Swamiji has drawn the attention of his readers to the Problems of the Human Mind. Speaking about the Mind, the learned author says:

鈥淭ime, space, and causation form the very moods of the mind. For without time, no thought of anything is possible, without space, no conception of anything is possible, and without causation no consideration of anything is possible鈥�.These three are the ultimate categories to which all the phenomena of the world can be reduced鈥�.Yet they are not of an objective existence, but are merely the subjective forms of the intellect. In other words, they exist only in the mind, making up its structure and covering up all the outer phenomena.鈥�

The above passage indicates the limitations of the thought-process. Thought always moves between two points. Time and Space are the two points of the mind鈥揳nd causation is indeed the movement between these two points. Time and Space are not two different things. They are a pair always found together. To postulate the one, is to bring into existence the other, for, thought is unable to function except inthe field of duality. And so, non-dual experience can never be comprehended by a thought-process, however subtle it may be. Since all true spiritual experiences are non-dual in nature they can be known only in the transcending of the thought-process. This has been the main teaching of Sri Ramana Maharshi, and Swami Rajeswarananda has expounded the teaching of the Maharshi in a very simple and yet clear manner. It is interesting to note how the approach of Vedanta is becoming more and more acceptable to the scientifically trained intellect of today. It was Aldous Huxley who said that Vedanta is the only scientific religion which can be acceptable to modern man. The present book a simple exposition of the profound doctrines of Hindu Vedanta. As the author says:

鈥淭he real aspirant after Truth has to express an intuition of the Infinite to go beyond the positive and negative features of relativity. The absolute is beyond the boundaries of relativity. All experiences with an experiencer and experienced are inevitably relative, perishing and passing.

鈥淩elativity is only an experience between an apparent pair of opposites such as pain and pleasure, life and death, etc. And as such, knowledge is one of a pair, and the other is ignorance in the field of relativity. They both either live or die together, and one without the other does not exist.

鈥淭he aspirant has to go beyond the so-called pairs of opposites, the dual throng of life.鈥�

One can go on quoting passage after passage from this illuminating book calling our attention to the Dawn of Wisdom even in the midst of the spiritual darkness that surrounds us.

Messrs Ganesh & Co., deserve the gratitude of all true seekers after Truth for publishing this book of Ancient鈥搚et Eternal鈥揥isdom.
鈥揜OHIT MEHTA

TAMIL

Rasikan Kathaigal (A collection of short-stories) by N. Raghunathan.

If creative literature should depend, to a large extent, upon a growing intimacy with life, these stories of N. Raghunathan could be greeted with intense pleasure and a sense of relief that they do not bear traces of either artificiality or inventiveness for the sake of mere originality. Perhaps they are more truly vignettes of South Indian life, particularly confined to the District of Thanjavur, than even types answering the description of a short-story. Still what a variety of humanity he has chosen to present us, and what an amount of delectable art he has displayed in producing the real atmosphere of the Indian village that is fast getting obliterated!

The first of these stories transports us from day-dreaming into a world of bare realism. The unbridgeable hiatus between status on the one hand and social inferiority on the other, cannot be better brought home than in the way a luscious jack-fruit decides the fates of two little boys of tender age, who having been what they were, felt unable to draw the line demarcating the haves from the have-nots, at any rate so far as their instincts led them to taste the fruit. If proud adversity also can occasionally retaliate at insolence offered for no reason, it only justifies the episode where a woman of no consequence was cut to the quick by the grudgingly delivered jack-fruit by one whom she had no reason to respect, especially after what had taken place, painfully reminding her of her lower rank in society.

Thelast story in the volume treats of a good-for-nothing son-in-law whose term of smug, comfortable existence in his father-in-law鈥檚 residence is brought to a sudden close through his own folly of over-staying there. His natural disinclination for employing himself in any work of usefulness makes the denoument all the more deplorable when the hero receives the rude shock of his life from a menial (a bullock cart driver) of his father-in-law鈥檚 household, irreverently handling him, to his utter discomfiture.

In between these two, there are eight other stories of varying lengths, most of which convey to us graphically all the disconcerting situations life abounds in, for those who cannot but share such experiences, with no small personal sacrifices, in a very rapidly-changing world. Two of them, the one concerning an actor of the street-drama and the other a peasant, respecting time-honoured traditions of loyalty to masters, and to the soil which rewarded him for honest labour, preserve for us in no ordinary degree some of the highlights of racy narration and analysis of human character in all its intricacies. The suspense, maintained to the last, in the story of the artist鈥檚 wife, till the revelation of her identity, proves without doubt the deftness and power of it sustaining interest in a story, not commonly found in many writers, whose vain purpose is to provide surprises at every turn in order to rivet the readers entire attention on their capacity to hold them in their grip. The other story of the farmer easily makes the reader throw his imagination to bygone times, when plenty and different values influenced our rural economy, now, alas, never to return. The contrast of the present, painted by the author, is convincing enough to demonstrate what a heritage of simplicity and ordered life we have lost, with our new-born ideas and regular plans for progress.

As limited number of stories in this volume by no means sets any limit to our enjoyment of the three hundred odd pages in this collection. Indeed, apart from the naturalness and ineffable endearment, for the simple life and inexpensive entertainments of the village so well described in the narration, a golden thread of fulfilment and faith in a way of life, that is no longer possible, runs through an otherwise definitely realistic portrayal. Very engaging no doubt are some of the snatches of dialogue with a touch of irrepressible humour and peculiarity of Tanjorean dialect which prove of absorbing interest in chosen contexts.

Raghunathan鈥檚 stories have certainly a place in modern Tamil fiction. Fortunately for him, he belongs to no particular group of writers so as to attract attention for extra praise or condemnation from friendly or opposite camps. In his case, his rare gifts for penmanship in English have not in the least robbed him of his inborn talents to express himself in his own familiar mother tongue. When every day we greet a fresh star swimming into our ken with no great claim either to originality or equipment in literary studies, we extend our welcome to a disciplined writer of Raghunathan鈥檚 long record of close and deep knowledge of three great literatures, to the field of fiction in Tamil, already teeming with numerous aspirants to both recognition and awards.
鈥揔. CHANDRASEKHARAN

TELUGU

Andhra Yakshagana Vangmaya Charitra (A History of Telugu Yakshaganas) by Dr. S. V. Joga Rao. Pages 875. Price Rs. 10. Published by The Andhra University, Waltair.

This is a thesis by the author for his Ph. D. Degree of the Andhra University. This is also the first comprehensive work dealing with Telugu Yakshaganas, wherein we have a harmonious blending of music, dance and literature, and which, unlike some other forms of literature, was once a source of amusement both to the poor and rich, literate and illiterate, and peasant and prince alike in olden days, though it has now fallen into oblivion.

This massive volume of 900 pages is divided into two parts. In the first part the learned author traces the origin and meaning of the word Yaksha from ancient Sanskrit and Telugu works, and then enters into a discussion of the origin of the Yakshaganas. He establishes with convincing arguments that the word Yakshas has relationship with the word Jekkulu in Telugu and Ekkadigolu in Kannada, and that the origin of the Yakshaganas can be traced to the 12th century A. D. He refutes with powerful arguments the old theories of Kuravanji or Bommalata, that it is identical with Harikatha and of the same origin as the Kathakali dance of Kerala, though he agrees that there are some similarities between these and the Yakshaganas, and some of them must have either been influenced by these Yakshaganas or influenced them.

Then Yakshaganas of Andhra, Tanjore, Telangana and Kannada, their distinguishing characteristics, and methods of presentation are dealt with in detail. Kuchipudi Bhagavata Kalapamu and Bhagavata Mela of Melattur also are found described in their context. Then the traditional characters like Sunkari Kondadu, Singi, Singaau and others with their leading traits are described. Variety of Yakshaganas according to the nature of their subject matter, distinguishing characteristics of Yakshaganas with their place and importance in literature, are thoroughly dealt with. The Anubandhas, or appendices, five in number, are of immense value to the student of literature in that they describe in detail with definitions and illustrations.

The second part is devoted to the literary history of Yakshagana works and their authors from their earliest beginnings to the present day. In all 465 authors and 802 works, both extant and extinct, published and unpublished, are found dealt with in detail, as far as possible.

This volume, obviously the result of hard labour and critical study of several manuscripts and published works in Sanskrit, Telugu, English, Kannada and Tamil, which leaves nothing important un-touched, is a most valuable addition to Telugu literature. We congratulate the author on his masterly treatment of the subject and we commend this volume to the Telugu public and all libraries.
鈥揃. KUTUMBA RAO

Rashtrapati Radhahrishnan鈥揳collection of essays鈥揺dited by Narla Venkateswara Rao. Adarsa Grantha Mandali, Vijayawada.

The election of Dr. Radhakrishnan to the presidentship of the Indian Republic was hailed the world over as Plato鈥檚 dream come true. The ancient Greek philosopher looked forward to the day when philosophers would become kings and kings philosophers; But he might not have imagined that a Sovereign Democratic Republic would ever vote a philosopher of world stature to its presidentship. The point that Radhakrishnan鈥檚 political ideals are more broad-based and more advanced than those of Plato, or any other philosopher for that matter, is effectively made out by the editor in his detailed and well-written preface to this compilation which is a reprint of articles originally published in the special number of 鈥淭he Andhra Jyoti鈥� celebrating the assumption of office by the new President. Radhakrishnan鈥檚 flair for exposition, and genius for reconciliation, the magic web of his eloquence, the gift of vivid phrase and the happy expression as a writer, and his enviable mastery of the English language, are succintly described before the editor, an avowed agnostic, sums him up as a democrat for with Socialist leanings, as a humanist who uses the philosopher鈥檚 idiom for the promotion of human welfare. Dr. K. Satchidanandamurti surveys the progress of his thought by a rapid reference to all his works uptodate. His role as a philosopher, commentator and idealist is discussed by Messrs. M. V. N. Swami, I. S. R. L. Narayanamurti and K. Venkateswarlu respectively. The article contributed by the present writer views him as a bridge-builder, between the East and the West, between the ancient and the modern, between philosophy and politics and between Man and Man.
鈥揇. ANJANEYULU