Collected Works of Dr. Benoytosh Bhattacharyya (Jainism and Buddhism Vol-1)

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

Dr. Benoytosh Bhattacharyya, ex-director, Oriental Institute, M. S. University of Baroda needs no introduction to the modern scholars. His contribution in Hinduism & Jainism is considered as most authentic and his works are still used as a ready reference even today. Son of Late Mahamohopadhyay Hara- prasad Shastri was no less a mere indologist but a giant in his field.

Dr. Benoytosh Bhattacharyya, the eminent scholar, wrote on many subjects such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Indian Culture, Astrology etc. He wrote several books and articles on the above subjects but with the passage of time and the changing pattern of culture most of the writings have either been lost or have gone out of print. During the centenary year of the great man an endeavour was made to get some of them reprinted so that we can be reminded of our lost heritage. To get this compilation done an expert, who is also a scholar of eminence, was needed as this job could not be done by any ordinary scholar. After a thorough search for such a scholar we found Prof. Asoke Kumar Bhattacharyya, Ex-Director, Indian Museum, who was the right person to do justice to this memorable work. Prof. Bhattacharyya worked tirelessly to edit the entire texts and made it ready for print. My grateful thanks are due to him for taking up this work and making it possible to get the volume published.

I would not be doing my duty if I did not acknowledge my debt to my very great and valued friend Dr. Satyananda Laskar, IPS, Ex. 1. G. of Police, without whose selfless efforts the entire centenary celebrations would not have taken place. This present volume also would not have seen the light of day without his tireless efforts. He was instrumental in getting in touch with Prof. Bhattacharyya requesting him for this onerous work and acted as a liaison officer to get this work done in time. May the spirit of my father bless him from the heavens.

Lastly I also owe my thanks to Mr. Rathindra Nath Mukherji of Firma KLM Private Limited, for taking up this work for publication knowing fully well that this book will not be having a ready market the reason for which is easy to find. I personally wish him a long life so that he may be of help to writers of repute but whose works are not easily salable.

Several others have also helped to get this publication out and to all of them I convey my grateful thanks.

Dr. Benoytosh and his writings.

Dr. Benoytosh Bhattacharyya started his educational career in the foot-steps of his renowned father, Mahamahopadhyay Haraprasad Shastri, with the publication of the Indian Buddhist Iconography his Thesis for Ph.D. Degree from the Dacca University. As the first Director of the Oriental Institute, Baroda, he edited many original texts in Sanskrit on Buddhism and Buddhist Tantricism, and came to be recognised as an authority on the subjects of his research. Soon his fame spread all over the world as a scholar on Buddhism and on Indology.

To an erudite scholar and a searching mind like Benoytosh, no part of our existence remained unscrutinised intellectually and without reference to the observations of the ancient sages. His profuse writings on various religions and their analysis with spiritual interpretations remain valid even to- day. His studies on the conception of God down to his observations on some clans mentioned in the Puranas, reveal the range of his interest and erudition. His critical analysis of the day-to-day rituals, and the importance of Yoga in man's life, as also of Tantra and the Mantra-sastras, and the Sakti- cult at once point to his discriminating mind that was attracted towards these, among the many facets of Indian culture.

Hinduism with its innumerable sects and sub-sects, pantheism, worship of all kinds of objects - both animate and inanimate which appear illusive and obtrusive, particularly after the Puranas came up on the scene, became a special object of his careful attention. The inner intricacies of the Hindu way of life are presented, in its special spheres, with ease, and clarity by Benoytosh that made the various streams of the apparently diverse and antagonistic rituals almost converge to a point cleared of all riddles. To a foreign scholar, his writings bear, thus, a special meaning and a special importance.

Benoytosh's special emphasis on the study of the Tantras that entered almost all the Indian religious systems orthodox and heterodox theistic and atheistic and influenced their thought, ritual and iconography, has been of immense celebrity. His search for higher meaning of cosmology that lies buried in the Tantras has made him a scholar apart. From this intensive study of the Tantra literature and the Mantra-sastras, he came to discover the importance of Astronomy and its close influence on human life and behaviour. He, therefore, wrote extensively on astronomy, and actually discovered a system of Astro-therapy for the human physique.

According to Benoytosh, study and practice of Yoga was also an integral and important part of man's life and its clevation. In one article he wrote: "As I believe that some kind of Yoga practice is beneficial to every human being, whatever may be his station in life, I venture to talk on Laya Yoga, which is the easiest of all Yogas". He made clarifications on the various branches of the Yoga- Sastra of India indicating by implication that Yoga is not a mere physical and breathing exercise as understood in the present day, and in general, a distortion well-practised indiscriminately throughout the Western world through established Clubs and Associations. Yoga, according to Benoytosh, "is science like Alchemy or Ayurveda, and exists by itself. He goes on to characterise it as being "based on human experience". He brought out the essence of Yoga as being the process of the unique bond that binds all through the concept of God in all the living religions.