Heritage of India and the West

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

Back of the Book It is a survey of the researches of Indian, Asian and European savants on the evolution of life and thought from the transcendent visions of the Vedic samhitas to Srauta and grhya rituals, from philosophical speculation to the social order of the Smrtis, phonetics to grammar, from Brahman of the Upanisads to the Bodhi of Lord Buddha. Scholars from the East and the West have collaborated in critical editions of rare works in Sanskrit, Chinese, Japanese, Tibetan, Mongolian, Tangut, Burmese and Old Javanese. Facsimile editions of rare Buddhist texts like the Gilgit Manuscripts and the 108 volumes each of the three editions of the Kanjur (Mongolian, Urga and Narthang) represent the supernal endeavours of Buddhism to enrich the lands of Tibet, Tanguts, Mongolia and Buryatia in the north; to China, Korea and Japan in the east, to Srilanka, Myanmar, Thai, Cambodia, Laos and Indonesia in the South East of Asia. The transmission of scripts, language of Hochkultur, magnificent architecture of sanctums, introduction of agriculture and creation of kingdoms: all came about as writing expanded communications. Creation of a national language for India for modern needs has been detailed at length. Indology in the Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Romania and Hungary are living presentations. From voyage to Bali in ancient galleons to the strangely first ever Sanskrit broadcasts by the Voice of Germany have inspired India. The richly woven enigmas of Sanskrit culture across the globe, both as heritage and as academics, form the wide-ranging studies of scholars in these volumes.

Preface Herewith is a survey of the quest of millennis of India's vision and visualization of her evolution from the transcendent meditations of the Vedic sages to frauta ritual and philosophical speculation, to the precision of phonetics and grammatical analysis, to the griya rites and social ordering of the smrtis, to the aesthesis of painting and sculptures, to the Brahman of the Upanisads evolving in the Bodhi of Lord Buddha's way of homocentric values. The expansion of Saiva and Buddhist paradigms into the northern, eastern, central and southeastern regions of Asia has been a major expression of human civilization. As India was seeking political independence and awakening to cultural renaissance, Prof. Raghu Vira conceptualised the need to bring to light the Vedic texts, vast epics and sprawling classics of our literary heritage and also to unevil the immense literature in other Asian languages. His early researches on grammar, samhhitas and grhyasutras were followed by the study of Indra's musical instruments (p.210). In 1930 he wanted to hold a conference on Lithuanian and Sanskrit in London (p.26) but it could not be materialized To bring together scholars from the East and the West, Prof. Raghu Vira founded the International Academy of Indian Culture on 1 Jan 1934. The first resident scholar was Prof. S. Suenaga of Japan. The founding members were from India, Great Britain, USA, Italy, Japan. Srilanka, Norway, France, and Czechoslovakia (p.30). Three scholars of philosophy and music from the Netherlands joined in 1935 (p.33). Journal of Vedic Studies 1, 2 appeared in the same year. In 1936 Chikyo Yamamoto and Shodo Taki were sent by the Japanese Government, the very first monks of Japan to study Sanskrit in India. of the Virataparva of the Mahabharata In 1936 Prof Raghu Vira completed the critical edition and compared it with the OJ version. The Northern version has 2050 verses while the Southern has 38,000 verses. Its critical editing was a strenuous challenge (p.40). The Sarasvati Vihara Series was begun in 1936 with an edition of the Atharvaveda of the Paippalidas (p.45), Jaiminiya-brahmana of the Samaveda came out in 1937, and Samaveda of the Jaiminiyas in 1938. The critical edition of the Ramayana of Valmiki based on all recensions in parallel columns came out in 1938. It was followed by the translation of two short narrations of the Ramayana from Chinese texts. It kindled widespread interest in the Chinese academia to investigate their first novel Journey to the West, where a wise monkey accompanies Hsuan-tsang in his travels to India. It has striking parallels to Hanuman's search for queen Sita. The Academy was hailed as "Taxila in the making where varied fields of Indology were being investigated.

**Contents and Sample Pages**