studies in the buddhist epistemological tradition: proceedings of the second international...
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Studies in the Buddhist Epistemological Tradition: Proceedings of the Second InternationalDharmakīrti Conference, Vienna, June 11-16, 1989 by Ernst SteinkellnerReview by: Paul J. GriffithsJournal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 121, No. 1 (Jan. - Mar., 2001), pp. 162-163Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/606775 .
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Journal of the American Oriental Society 121.1 (2001) Journal of the American Oriental Society 121.1 (2001) Journal of the American Oriental Society 121.1 (2001)
measure from inserting Arabic terms into the English translation. His way of citing qur'anic verses in italics and without quota- tions marks leaves the text looking clean and uncluttered. In
sum, the labor that Chittick has devoted for two decades to trans-
lating Ibn al-CArabi has produced a superbly readable and stan- dardized way of rendering the wide-ranging thought of one of the most difficult writers of Arabic and one of the most influen- tial thinkers of Islam.
GERHARD BOWERING YALE UNIVERSITY
Jaina System of Education. By DEBENDRA CHANDRA DAS- GUPTA. Lala Sundarlal Jain Research Series, vol. XII. Delhi: MOTILAL BANARSIDASS, 1999 [1979]. Pp. 134. Rs 200.
This volume is a reprint of a 1979 publication of a series of ten lectures presented in Calcutta in 1942. Each lecture is de-
signed around a theme: brahmanic and arts schools; Jaina mon-
asteries; Jain education of nuns, laywomen, and princes; vocational education; and Jain contributions to the arts and sci- ences. The essays look at the ways Jain texts describe and the- orize about education during a period of over a thousand years, from the earliest extant texts in the first or second century B.C., to the medieval narratives of the great twelfth-century scholar-monk Hemacandra. It is a strength of these essays that the author articulates the continuum and connections between Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain educational systems and explores the
relationship between secular (what he calls "arts") and religious education in ancient India. The volume suffers from two basic
interpretive issues: the first is the author's assumption that the various religious and religio-historical texts describe an- cient education in an ethnographic manner and the second that the categories of sixteenth and early twentieth-century educa- tional and psychological theory-in particular, de Montaigne, Dewey, and Spearman-are directly transposable onto the Jain
categories of education. That being said, it is an encyclopedic collection of references to education and intellectual pursuit in Jain texts and could serve to link the interested scholar with Jain textual materials which may be of interest to him.
M. WHITNEY KELTING ST. LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY
measure from inserting Arabic terms into the English translation. His way of citing qur'anic verses in italics and without quota- tions marks leaves the text looking clean and uncluttered. In
sum, the labor that Chittick has devoted for two decades to trans-
lating Ibn al-CArabi has produced a superbly readable and stan- dardized way of rendering the wide-ranging thought of one of the most difficult writers of Arabic and one of the most influen- tial thinkers of Islam.
GERHARD BOWERING YALE UNIVERSITY
Jaina System of Education. By DEBENDRA CHANDRA DAS- GUPTA. Lala Sundarlal Jain Research Series, vol. XII. Delhi: MOTILAL BANARSIDASS, 1999 [1979]. Pp. 134. Rs 200.
This volume is a reprint of a 1979 publication of a series of ten lectures presented in Calcutta in 1942. Each lecture is de-
signed around a theme: brahmanic and arts schools; Jaina mon-
asteries; Jain education of nuns, laywomen, and princes; vocational education; and Jain contributions to the arts and sci- ences. The essays look at the ways Jain texts describe and the- orize about education during a period of over a thousand years, from the earliest extant texts in the first or second century B.C., to the medieval narratives of the great twelfth-century scholar-monk Hemacandra. It is a strength of these essays that the author articulates the continuum and connections between Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain educational systems and explores the
relationship between secular (what he calls "arts") and religious education in ancient India. The volume suffers from two basic
interpretive issues: the first is the author's assumption that the various religious and religio-historical texts describe an- cient education in an ethnographic manner and the second that the categories of sixteenth and early twentieth-century educa- tional and psychological theory-in particular, de Montaigne, Dewey, and Spearman-are directly transposable onto the Jain
categories of education. That being said, it is an encyclopedic collection of references to education and intellectual pursuit in Jain texts and could serve to link the interested scholar with Jain textual materials which may be of interest to him.
M. WHITNEY KELTING ST. LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY
measure from inserting Arabic terms into the English translation. His way of citing qur'anic verses in italics and without quota- tions marks leaves the text looking clean and uncluttered. In
sum, the labor that Chittick has devoted for two decades to trans-
lating Ibn al-CArabi has produced a superbly readable and stan- dardized way of rendering the wide-ranging thought of one of the most difficult writers of Arabic and one of the most influen- tial thinkers of Islam.
GERHARD BOWERING YALE UNIVERSITY
Jaina System of Education. By DEBENDRA CHANDRA DAS- GUPTA. Lala Sundarlal Jain Research Series, vol. XII. Delhi: MOTILAL BANARSIDASS, 1999 [1979]. Pp. 134. Rs 200.
This volume is a reprint of a 1979 publication of a series of ten lectures presented in Calcutta in 1942. Each lecture is de-
signed around a theme: brahmanic and arts schools; Jaina mon-
asteries; Jain education of nuns, laywomen, and princes; vocational education; and Jain contributions to the arts and sci- ences. The essays look at the ways Jain texts describe and the- orize about education during a period of over a thousand years, from the earliest extant texts in the first or second century B.C., to the medieval narratives of the great twelfth-century scholar-monk Hemacandra. It is a strength of these essays that the author articulates the continuum and connections between Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain educational systems and explores the
relationship between secular (what he calls "arts") and religious education in ancient India. The volume suffers from two basic
interpretive issues: the first is the author's assumption that the various religious and religio-historical texts describe an- cient education in an ethnographic manner and the second that the categories of sixteenth and early twentieth-century educa- tional and psychological theory-in particular, de Montaigne, Dewey, and Spearman-are directly transposable onto the Jain
categories of education. That being said, it is an encyclopedic collection of references to education and intellectual pursuit in Jain texts and could serve to link the interested scholar with Jain textual materials which may be of interest to him.
M. WHITNEY KELTING ST. LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY
Studies in the Buddhist Epistemological Tradition: Proceedings of the Second International Dharmaktrti Conference, Vienna, June 11-16, 1989. Edited by ERNST STEINKELLNER. Oster- reichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, phil.-hist. Kl., Denkschriften, vol. 222; Beitrage zur Kultur und Geistesge- schichte Asiens, no. 8. Vienna: OSTERREICHISCHE AKADEMIE DER WISSENSCHAFTEN, 1991. Pp. xx + 430.
This volume contains twenty-eight papers, most of which were delivered at the conference mentioned in the subtitle, and most of which treat the thought of the seventh-century Buddhist
philosopher, Dharmakirti. The contributions are all in English, though some, almost inevitably given the range of linguistic backgrounds of their speakers, are in an English that bears only a remote relationship to the written language familiar to native
speakers in England or the United States. Most deal with particu- lar issues in the linguistic or conceptual interpretation of Dhar- makirti's thought, and almost without exception they treat their
topics at a very high level of technicality: readers without a
good background in Indian Buddhist philosophical thought and skills in Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Chinese, will be able to make lit- tle of them. This is, then, a collection for specialists only, and even for them it will likely be used for reference rather than read through. The standard of technical excellence is through- out very high: the volume has been splendidly edited and contains few errors of a mechanical sort-a significant achieve- ment in a volume of this kind.
The contributions that do not deal directly with Dharmakirti include D. Seyfort Ruegg's essay on Tsong-kha-pa's epistemo- logy, Yuichi Kajiyama's argument that Nagfrjuna is the author of the Upiyahrdaya, Hfjun Nagasaki's analysis of the treatment of perception in the same text, and Marek Major's discussion of the date of the Tibetan version of the Pramanasamuccaya. Among the rest, all of which treat Dharmakirti more or less di-
rectly, the outstanding contributions are those by Claus Oetke and Tadashi Tani. The former treats the function of the sva-
bhdvapratibandha relation in Dharmakirti's theory of inference and is a model of careful textual interpretation modulated by a
genuine care for philosophy; Oetke shows that Dharmakirti's account of what makes an inference valid cannot be immedi-
ately applied to reasoning in general (historiographic and other inductive probabilistic arguments, for instance, cannot effec-
tively be analyzed by Dharmakirti's schemata), but that it can be extended in such a way as to make this possible. On the way to this conclusion he shows that there are several modes of nec-
essary relation comprised under the generic heading sva- bhivapratibandha, and that these must be carefully distinguished in order to make the useful development of Dharmakirti's
philosophy a possibility. Tani's contribution (eighty pages in
length) provides a deeply complex and difficult analysis of the relations between ontology and logic evident in Dharmakirti's
Studies in the Buddhist Epistemological Tradition: Proceedings of the Second International Dharmaktrti Conference, Vienna, June 11-16, 1989. Edited by ERNST STEINKELLNER. Oster- reichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, phil.-hist. Kl., Denkschriften, vol. 222; Beitrage zur Kultur und Geistesge- schichte Asiens, no. 8. Vienna: OSTERREICHISCHE AKADEMIE DER WISSENSCHAFTEN, 1991. Pp. xx + 430.
This volume contains twenty-eight papers, most of which were delivered at the conference mentioned in the subtitle, and most of which treat the thought of the seventh-century Buddhist
philosopher, Dharmakirti. The contributions are all in English, though some, almost inevitably given the range of linguistic backgrounds of their speakers, are in an English that bears only a remote relationship to the written language familiar to native
speakers in England or the United States. Most deal with particu- lar issues in the linguistic or conceptual interpretation of Dhar- makirti's thought, and almost without exception they treat their
topics at a very high level of technicality: readers without a
good background in Indian Buddhist philosophical thought and skills in Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Chinese, will be able to make lit- tle of them. This is, then, a collection for specialists only, and even for them it will likely be used for reference rather than read through. The standard of technical excellence is through- out very high: the volume has been splendidly edited and contains few errors of a mechanical sort-a significant achieve- ment in a volume of this kind.
The contributions that do not deal directly with Dharmakirti include D. Seyfort Ruegg's essay on Tsong-kha-pa's epistemo- logy, Yuichi Kajiyama's argument that Nagfrjuna is the author of the Upiyahrdaya, Hfjun Nagasaki's analysis of the treatment of perception in the same text, and Marek Major's discussion of the date of the Tibetan version of the Pramanasamuccaya. Among the rest, all of which treat Dharmakirti more or less di-
rectly, the outstanding contributions are those by Claus Oetke and Tadashi Tani. The former treats the function of the sva-
bhdvapratibandha relation in Dharmakirti's theory of inference and is a model of careful textual interpretation modulated by a
genuine care for philosophy; Oetke shows that Dharmakirti's account of what makes an inference valid cannot be immedi-
ately applied to reasoning in general (historiographic and other inductive probabilistic arguments, for instance, cannot effec-
tively be analyzed by Dharmakirti's schemata), but that it can be extended in such a way as to make this possible. On the way to this conclusion he shows that there are several modes of nec-
essary relation comprised under the generic heading sva- bhivapratibandha, and that these must be carefully distinguished in order to make the useful development of Dharmakirti's
philosophy a possibility. Tani's contribution (eighty pages in
length) provides a deeply complex and difficult analysis of the relations between ontology and logic evident in Dharmakirti's
Studies in the Buddhist Epistemological Tradition: Proceedings of the Second International Dharmaktrti Conference, Vienna, June 11-16, 1989. Edited by ERNST STEINKELLNER. Oster- reichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, phil.-hist. Kl., Denkschriften, vol. 222; Beitrage zur Kultur und Geistesge- schichte Asiens, no. 8. Vienna: OSTERREICHISCHE AKADEMIE DER WISSENSCHAFTEN, 1991. Pp. xx + 430.
This volume contains twenty-eight papers, most of which were delivered at the conference mentioned in the subtitle, and most of which treat the thought of the seventh-century Buddhist
philosopher, Dharmakirti. The contributions are all in English, though some, almost inevitably given the range of linguistic backgrounds of their speakers, are in an English that bears only a remote relationship to the written language familiar to native
speakers in England or the United States. Most deal with particu- lar issues in the linguistic or conceptual interpretation of Dhar- makirti's thought, and almost without exception they treat their
topics at a very high level of technicality: readers without a
good background in Indian Buddhist philosophical thought and skills in Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Chinese, will be able to make lit- tle of them. This is, then, a collection for specialists only, and even for them it will likely be used for reference rather than read through. The standard of technical excellence is through- out very high: the volume has been splendidly edited and contains few errors of a mechanical sort-a significant achieve- ment in a volume of this kind.
The contributions that do not deal directly with Dharmakirti include D. Seyfort Ruegg's essay on Tsong-kha-pa's epistemo- logy, Yuichi Kajiyama's argument that Nagfrjuna is the author of the Upiyahrdaya, Hfjun Nagasaki's analysis of the treatment of perception in the same text, and Marek Major's discussion of the date of the Tibetan version of the Pramanasamuccaya. Among the rest, all of which treat Dharmakirti more or less di-
rectly, the outstanding contributions are those by Claus Oetke and Tadashi Tani. The former treats the function of the sva-
bhdvapratibandha relation in Dharmakirti's theory of inference and is a model of careful textual interpretation modulated by a
genuine care for philosophy; Oetke shows that Dharmakirti's account of what makes an inference valid cannot be immedi-
ately applied to reasoning in general (historiographic and other inductive probabilistic arguments, for instance, cannot effec-
tively be analyzed by Dharmakirti's schemata), but that it can be extended in such a way as to make this possible. On the way to this conclusion he shows that there are several modes of nec-
essary relation comprised under the generic heading sva- bhivapratibandha, and that these must be carefully distinguished in order to make the useful development of Dharmakirti's
philosophy a possibility. Tani's contribution (eighty pages in
length) provides a deeply complex and difficult analysis of the relations between ontology and logic evident in Dharmakirti's
162 162 162
This content downloaded from 195.78.108.147 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 21:59:45 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Brief Reviews of Books Brief Reviews of Books Brief Reviews of Books
use of the idea of prasatga (non-affirmative negation), an ana-
lysis that breaks new ground and that, like Oetke's contribution, treats Dharmakirti as a lively philosophical interlocutor, as well as an object for philological excavations.
This volume contains the best specialist work currently being done on Dharmakirti. It is also a good example of the kind of international collaboration required by work of this sort: the contributors are from Japan, Europe, India, Israel, and the United States, and they clearly form an international intellectual
community, brought together by a common interest in one of the most important philosophical thinkers ever to have worked in India, or elsewhere.
PAUL J. GRIFFITHS UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
Fatalism in Ancient India. By SUKUMARI BHATTACHARJI. Cal- cutta: BAULMON PRAKASHAN, 1995. Pp. xxvii + 356. Rs 250.
Sukumari Bhattacharji, known for her Indian Theogony (Cambridge U.P., 1970; corrected Indian ed., Calcutta: Firma KLM, 1978; U.S. ed., Anima, 1988), has become a prolific writer after retirement: Literature in the Vedic Age, 2 vols. (Cal- cutta: K.P. Bagchi, 1984, 1986; rev. JAOS 110 [1990]: 174-75); Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Literature (Calcutta: Asiatic Society, 1992); History of Classical Sanskrit Literature (Hyderabad: Orient Longman, 1993); etc. These survey volumes were pri- marily the outcome of her many years of teaching at Jadavpur University.
Fatalism in Ancient India is different. This is a book with a
message, inspired by the reaction to a statement Bhattacharji made at a conference on religion in Winnipeg (1981) to the effect that "the theories of Karman and rebirth were two of the most vicious ever invented by man".... "I was attacked vehe-
mently by all and sundry; I realized that fatalism with which these theories were intrinsically linked was a vested interest, or, the apathy and passivity it provoked were" (preface). The volume is not restricted to the study of karma, rebirth, transmigration, and fatalism in the Indian context. It expands into civilizations in other parts of the world as well, perhaps too ambitious a project for one scholar not sufficiently familiar with the primary sources. Sanskrit adrsta is not "a cognate of the name of the Greek goddess Adrasteia" (p. 1), whose name, rather, is related to a-didrdskein "not run away." Plato did not write "in the first century B.C.," and he is not the author of a work called "Mano" (p. 19, for Menon?). Empedocles "(582-507)" is antedated by nearly one century. Heracleides of Pontus is not called "Pon-
use of the idea of prasatga (non-affirmative negation), an ana-
lysis that breaks new ground and that, like Oetke's contribution, treats Dharmakirti as a lively philosophical interlocutor, as well as an object for philological excavations.
This volume contains the best specialist work currently being done on Dharmakirti. It is also a good example of the kind of international collaboration required by work of this sort: the contributors are from Japan, Europe, India, Israel, and the United States, and they clearly form an international intellectual
community, brought together by a common interest in one of the most important philosophical thinkers ever to have worked in India, or elsewhere.
PAUL J. GRIFFITHS UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
Fatalism in Ancient India. By SUKUMARI BHATTACHARJI. Cal- cutta: BAULMON PRAKASHAN, 1995. Pp. xxvii + 356. Rs 250.
Sukumari Bhattacharji, known for her Indian Theogony (Cambridge U.P., 1970; corrected Indian ed., Calcutta: Firma KLM, 1978; U.S. ed., Anima, 1988), has become a prolific writer after retirement: Literature in the Vedic Age, 2 vols. (Cal- cutta: K.P. Bagchi, 1984, 1986; rev. JAOS 110 [1990]: 174-75); Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Literature (Calcutta: Asiatic Society, 1992); History of Classical Sanskrit Literature (Hyderabad: Orient Longman, 1993); etc. These survey volumes were pri- marily the outcome of her many years of teaching at Jadavpur University.
Fatalism in Ancient India is different. This is a book with a
message, inspired by the reaction to a statement Bhattacharji made at a conference on religion in Winnipeg (1981) to the effect that "the theories of Karman and rebirth were two of the most vicious ever invented by man".... "I was attacked vehe-
mently by all and sundry; I realized that fatalism with which these theories were intrinsically linked was a vested interest, or, the apathy and passivity it provoked were" (preface). The volume is not restricted to the study of karma, rebirth, transmigration, and fatalism in the Indian context. It expands into civilizations in other parts of the world as well, perhaps too ambitious a project for one scholar not sufficiently familiar with the primary sources. Sanskrit adrsta is not "a cognate of the name of the Greek goddess Adrasteia" (p. 1), whose name, rather, is related to a-didrdskein "not run away." Plato did not write "in the first century B.C.," and he is not the author of a work called "Mano" (p. 19, for Menon?). Empedocles "(582-507)" is antedated by nearly one century. Heracleides of Pontus is not called "Pon-
use of the idea of prasatga (non-affirmative negation), an ana-
lysis that breaks new ground and that, like Oetke's contribution, treats Dharmakirti as a lively philosophical interlocutor, as well as an object for philological excavations.
This volume contains the best specialist work currently being done on Dharmakirti. It is also a good example of the kind of international collaboration required by work of this sort: the contributors are from Japan, Europe, India, Israel, and the United States, and they clearly form an international intellectual
community, brought together by a common interest in one of the most important philosophical thinkers ever to have worked in India, or elsewhere.
PAUL J. GRIFFITHS UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
Fatalism in Ancient India. By SUKUMARI BHATTACHARJI. Cal- cutta: BAULMON PRAKASHAN, 1995. Pp. xxvii + 356. Rs 250.
Sukumari Bhattacharji, known for her Indian Theogony (Cambridge U.P., 1970; corrected Indian ed., Calcutta: Firma KLM, 1978; U.S. ed., Anima, 1988), has become a prolific writer after retirement: Literature in the Vedic Age, 2 vols. (Cal- cutta: K.P. Bagchi, 1984, 1986; rev. JAOS 110 [1990]: 174-75); Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Literature (Calcutta: Asiatic Society, 1992); History of Classical Sanskrit Literature (Hyderabad: Orient Longman, 1993); etc. These survey volumes were pri- marily the outcome of her many years of teaching at Jadavpur University.
Fatalism in Ancient India is different. This is a book with a
message, inspired by the reaction to a statement Bhattacharji made at a conference on religion in Winnipeg (1981) to the effect that "the theories of Karman and rebirth were two of the most vicious ever invented by man".... "I was attacked vehe-
mently by all and sundry; I realized that fatalism with which these theories were intrinsically linked was a vested interest, or, the apathy and passivity it provoked were" (preface). The volume is not restricted to the study of karma, rebirth, transmigration, and fatalism in the Indian context. It expands into civilizations in other parts of the world as well, perhaps too ambitious a project for one scholar not sufficiently familiar with the primary sources. Sanskrit adrsta is not "a cognate of the name of the Greek goddess Adrasteia" (p. 1), whose name, rather, is related to a-didrdskein "not run away." Plato did not write "in the first century B.C.," and he is not the author of a work called "Mano" (p. 19, for Menon?). Empedocles "(582-507)" is antedated by nearly one century. Heracleides of Pontus is not called "Pon-
tiens" (p. 20), but "Ponticus." Among the several encyclopedias (with misprints in quotations from languages other than Eng- lish), I miss Mircea Eliade's The Encyclopedia of Religion (1987), which includes articles on fate, karman, reincarnation, and transmigration. In the Indian context itself Sankara and
Ramanuja are referred to as commentators on the Mimdm- sadsutras (p. 20). A reference to the source of the translation
(p. 30) of Jfianavimala's Prasnavydkaranasitra (Panhavdgara- nadim, the tenth Jaina Aiiga?) might have been useful. Calling the Aryans "invaders" (p. 292), who "defeated and chased
away the pre-Aryans from northern India" (p. ii), is no longer accepted history. Some statements are highly speculative, with- out any reference to documents to support them. On the origin of the upanayana, for instance, we read: "As Aryan men mar- ried non-Aryan women, the investiture ceremony of the holy thread (upanayana) was denied to women presumably for fear of the Aryan lore being shared by non-Aryans" (p. iv). Accord-
ing to Bhattacharji there is no trace of fatalism in the earliest literature-down to the upanisads (p. 293); it had multiple causes (p. 299), but it came as a complement to the theory of karma and rebirth (p. 300).
Fatalism in Ancient India is, and is meant to be, provocative. It irreverently speaks of "the evil of caste" (p. 299). As to fatal- ism, it "is rooted in vested interests of the economic rulers of
society, priests and lawgivers, whose threats and baits hold the
ignorant man enthralled, who win in this game of power by fan-
ning man's worst superstitions.... Once man sees through the
dirty game of the religious lawgivers and crafty politicians and determines to strive against their foul motives and put up a brave, and collective fight, fatalism's fang will be broken"
(p. xxvi). The book does, though, end on an optimistic note: "The common man is slowly yet surely seeing through this evil
game and when they unite to fight it, they shall surely over- come" (p. 339).
LUDO ROCHER UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
A Provisional List of Tibetological Research-papers and Arti- cles Published in The People's Republic of China and Tibet. By PER K. S0RENSEN. Nepal Research Centre Publications, 17. Stuttgart: FRANZ STEINER VERLAG, 1991. Pp. [6] + 101. DM 44.
The list of mainly, but not exclusively, academic publications compiled in this volume covers items issued in the decade be- tween 1980 and 1990. The list does not pretend to be exhaus- tive, "as it merely reflects what I have been able to acquire at
tiens" (p. 20), but "Ponticus." Among the several encyclopedias (with misprints in quotations from languages other than Eng- lish), I miss Mircea Eliade's The Encyclopedia of Religion (1987), which includes articles on fate, karman, reincarnation, and transmigration. In the Indian context itself Sankara and
Ramanuja are referred to as commentators on the Mimdm- sadsutras (p. 20). A reference to the source of the translation
(p. 30) of Jfianavimala's Prasnavydkaranasitra (Panhavdgara- nadim, the tenth Jaina Aiiga?) might have been useful. Calling the Aryans "invaders" (p. 292), who "defeated and chased
away the pre-Aryans from northern India" (p. ii), is no longer accepted history. Some statements are highly speculative, with- out any reference to documents to support them. On the origin of the upanayana, for instance, we read: "As Aryan men mar- ried non-Aryan women, the investiture ceremony of the holy thread (upanayana) was denied to women presumably for fear of the Aryan lore being shared by non-Aryans" (p. iv). Accord-
ing to Bhattacharji there is no trace of fatalism in the earliest literature-down to the upanisads (p. 293); it had multiple causes (p. 299), but it came as a complement to the theory of karma and rebirth (p. 300).
Fatalism in Ancient India is, and is meant to be, provocative. It irreverently speaks of "the evil of caste" (p. 299). As to fatal- ism, it "is rooted in vested interests of the economic rulers of
society, priests and lawgivers, whose threats and baits hold the
ignorant man enthralled, who win in this game of power by fan-
ning man's worst superstitions.... Once man sees through the
dirty game of the religious lawgivers and crafty politicians and determines to strive against their foul motives and put up a brave, and collective fight, fatalism's fang will be broken"
(p. xxvi). The book does, though, end on an optimistic note: "The common man is slowly yet surely seeing through this evil
game and when they unite to fight it, they shall surely over- come" (p. 339).
LUDO ROCHER UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
A Provisional List of Tibetological Research-papers and Arti- cles Published in The People's Republic of China and Tibet. By PER K. S0RENSEN. Nepal Research Centre Publications, 17. Stuttgart: FRANZ STEINER VERLAG, 1991. Pp. [6] + 101. DM 44.
The list of mainly, but not exclusively, academic publications compiled in this volume covers items issued in the decade be- tween 1980 and 1990. The list does not pretend to be exhaus- tive, "as it merely reflects what I have been able to acquire at
tiens" (p. 20), but "Ponticus." Among the several encyclopedias (with misprints in quotations from languages other than Eng- lish), I miss Mircea Eliade's The Encyclopedia of Religion (1987), which includes articles on fate, karman, reincarnation, and transmigration. In the Indian context itself Sankara and
Ramanuja are referred to as commentators on the Mimdm- sadsutras (p. 20). A reference to the source of the translation
(p. 30) of Jfianavimala's Prasnavydkaranasitra (Panhavdgara- nadim, the tenth Jaina Aiiga?) might have been useful. Calling the Aryans "invaders" (p. 292), who "defeated and chased
away the pre-Aryans from northern India" (p. ii), is no longer accepted history. Some statements are highly speculative, with- out any reference to documents to support them. On the origin of the upanayana, for instance, we read: "As Aryan men mar- ried non-Aryan women, the investiture ceremony of the holy thread (upanayana) was denied to women presumably for fear of the Aryan lore being shared by non-Aryans" (p. iv). Accord-
ing to Bhattacharji there is no trace of fatalism in the earliest literature-down to the upanisads (p. 293); it had multiple causes (p. 299), but it came as a complement to the theory of karma and rebirth (p. 300).
Fatalism in Ancient India is, and is meant to be, provocative. It irreverently speaks of "the evil of caste" (p. 299). As to fatal- ism, it "is rooted in vested interests of the economic rulers of
society, priests and lawgivers, whose threats and baits hold the
ignorant man enthralled, who win in this game of power by fan-
ning man's worst superstitions.... Once man sees through the
dirty game of the religious lawgivers and crafty politicians and determines to strive against their foul motives and put up a brave, and collective fight, fatalism's fang will be broken"
(p. xxvi). The book does, though, end on an optimistic note: "The common man is slowly yet surely seeing through this evil
game and when they unite to fight it, they shall surely over- come" (p. 339).
LUDO ROCHER UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
A Provisional List of Tibetological Research-papers and Arti- cles Published in The People's Republic of China and Tibet. By PER K. S0RENSEN. Nepal Research Centre Publications, 17. Stuttgart: FRANZ STEINER VERLAG, 1991. Pp. [6] + 101. DM 44.
The list of mainly, but not exclusively, academic publications compiled in this volume covers items issued in the decade be- tween 1980 and 1990. The list does not pretend to be exhaus- tive, "as it merely reflects what I have been able to acquire at
163 163 163
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