Sacred Books of The East (Set of 50 Volumes)

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

These volumes of the Sacred Books of the East series include translations of all the most important works of the seven non - Christian religions that have exercised a profound influence on the civilizations of the continent of Asia. The Vedic Brahmanic system claims 21 volumes, Buddhism 10 and Jainism 2; 8 Volumes comprise Sacred Books of the Parsis; 2 volumes represent Islam; and 6 the two main indigenous systems of China. Translated by twenty leading authorities in their respective fields, the volumes have been edited by the late F.Max Muller. The inception, publication and the compilation of these books cover almost 34 years.

1. Buddhism
Vol. 49: Buddhist Mahayana Text (2 Parts).
Vol. 11: Buddhist Suttas.
Vol. 10: The Dhammapada and Sutta Nipata.
Vols. 35 and 36: The Question of King Milinda (2 Parts).
Vol. 21: The Saddharma Pundarika or the Lotus of the True Law.
Vols. 13,17 and 20: Vinaya Text (3 Parts).

2. Chinese
Vols.3,16,27,28,39 and 40: The Sacred Books of China (6 Parts).
Vol. 19: The Fo-Sho-Hing-Tsan-King.

3. Islam
Vols. 6 and 9: The Qur'an (2 Parts)

4. Jainism
Vols. 22 and 45: The Jaina Sutras (2 Parts)

5. Parsis
Vols. 5,18,24,37 and 47: Pahlavi Texts (5 Parts).
Vols. 4, 23 and 31: The Zend - Avesta (3 Parts).
Vol. 50: A General Index to the Names and Subject - matter of the Sacred Books of the East.

6. Vedic Brahmanic System
Vol. 7: The Bhagavadgita with the Sanatsujatiya and the Anugita.
Vols. 29 and 30: The Grihya Sutras : Rules of Vedic Domestic Cermonies (2 Parts).
Vol. 42: Hymns of the Atharva Veda together with Extracts from the Ritual Books and the Commentaries.
Vol. 7: The Institutes of Vishnu.
Vol. 25: The Laws of Manu.
Vol. 33: The Minor Law Books.
Vols. 2 and 14: The Sacred Laws of the Aryas as Taught in the Schools of Apastamba, Gautama, Vasishtha and Baudhayana (2 Parts).
Vol. 1 and 15: The Upanishads (2 Parts).
Vols. 34 and 38: The Vedanta Sutras (2 Parts).
Vol. 48: The Vedanta Sutras (With the commentary by Ramanuja).
Vols. 32 and 46: Vedic Hymns (2 Parts).

First, the man distinguished between eternal and perishable. Later he discovered within himself the germ of the Eternal. This discovery was an epoch in the history of the human mind and the East was the first to discover it.

To watch in the Sacred Books of the East the dawn of this religious consciousness of man, must always remain one of the most inspiring and hallowing sights in the whole history of the world. In order to have a solid foundation for a comparative study of the Religions of the East, we must have before all things, complete and thoroughly faithful translation of their Sacred Books in which some of the ancient sayings were preserved because they were so true and so striking that they could not be forgotten. They contained eternal truths, expressed for the first time in human language.

With profoundest reverence for Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, President of India, who inspired us for the task; our deep sense of gratitude for Dr. C. D. Deshmukh & Dr. D. S. Kothari, for encouraging assistance; esteemed appreciation of UNESCO for the warm endorsement of the cause; and finally with indebtedness to Dr. H. Rau, Director, Max Muller Bhawan, New Delhi, in procuring us the texts of the Series for reprint, we humbly conclude.

Since 1948 the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), upon .the recommendation of the General Assembly of the United Nations, has been concerned with facilitating the translation of the works most representative of the culture of certain of its Member States, and, in particular, those of Asia. One of the major difficulties confronting this programme is the lack of translators having both the qualifications and the time to undertake translations of the many outstanding books meriting publication. To help overcome this difficulty in part, UNESCO's advisers in this field (a panel of experts convened every other year by the International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Studies), have recommended that many worthwhile translations published during the 19th century, and now impossible to find except in a limited number of libraries, should be brougL.t back into print in low-priced editions, for the use of students and of the general public. The experts also pointed out that in certain cases, even though there might be in existence more recent and more accurate translations endowed with a more modern apparatus of scholarship, a number of pioneer works of the greatest value and in terest to students of Eastern religions also merited republication. This point of VIew was warmly endorsed by the Indian National Academy of Letters (Sahitya Akademi), and the Indian National Commission for UNESCO. It is in the spirit of these recommendations that this work from the famous series "Sacred Books of the East" is now once again being made available to the general public as part of the UNESCO Collection of Representative Works.