Glimpses of Indian Culture (An Old and Rare Book)

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Great thinkers of the East and West have written volumes on the culture and civilisation of India. But her cultural heritage is not only the most ancient but it is also one of the most extensive and varied. Different peoples have come to this country from pre-historic times right down to the recent centuries. And all of them have co-operated in building up the great culture that India represents. Indian culture is a perennial source of inspiration to the people all over the world. The present collection of Prof. Sarangi's papers represents a novel aspect and fresh interpretation of India's glorious past. It is hoped that like his other earlier publications, the present work on different aspects of Indian culture will be avidly read by both scholars and persons interested in Indology.

India is proud to have preserved its culture without a break down to the present day. When we compare our ancient civilization with that of Greece, Egypt or Iraq, we cannot but appreciate our forefathers for their incessant efforts for having allowed the continuity of cultural stream unchecked. The influence of the continuous cultural traditions on an ordinary Indian is so strong that he recalls humbly even to-day the legeds connected with our glorious past when he faced with his own personal problems in his daily life. The orthodox brahmin of a remote village even recollects all the holy mountains and rivers when he takes a ritual ablution in his tiny village pond.

India's past is better understood when we see the evidence traced in the cultural heritage of our neighbouring countries. I had a rare opportunity to spend a few years in some of these countries like Japan and Indonesia and I got cultural shock when I noticed for myself the evidence of our ancient and deep rooted culture there. It is not enough to know our culture if we concentrate only on the studies related to our mother land but we must look beyond her boundaries to amuse ourselves by realising how our own culture spread not only to our neighbouring countries but to many distant lands.

In the comity of nations it is the pride of our country that almost in every generation and in every part of our land holy men are born and they are the embodiments of our culture. By their lives they teach us that pride and power, wealth and glory are nothing in comparison with the power of spirit. It is this spiritual aspect of our civilization for which our country is held in great esteem by the world-community. Great philosophers and great thinkers of the East and West have written volumes on the culture and civilization of our country. But our cultural heritage is not only the most ancient but it is also one of the most extensive and varied. Different peoples have come into our country from pre historic times right down to the recent centuries. And all of them have co-operated in building up the great culture of our country. Voluminous books and hundreds of papers written on culture cannot give the whole picture. Our culture is a perennial source of inspiration to people all over the world. In my view the papers here represent a novel aspect and a fresh interpretation of our glorious past.

The Atharva-Veda an abbreviation for the old name Atharvingirasah contains hymns designated as auspicious magic and black magic. By making use of these mantras in rituals one can cure diseases, bring health and long life to the family etc. At the same time one can make use of the mantras of Atharva-Veda for all sorts of evil purpose like bringing ruin and havoc on the enemy. Since the beginning of study on the Atharva-Veda all the scholars both of the East and the West have deal. with these two different kinds of magic formulas. Like Vaitana-Śrautasutra, the Kausikasutra an old and important text is of great help to the understanding of the ritual setting and general purpose of the hymns of the Atharva-Veda. But the particular aspect of the Atharvanic religion which makes the paper of Dr. Sarangi on Black-magic interesting is the discussion of the magic songs of the Atharva-Veda together with their ritual use.

**Contents and Sample Pages**