Praśastikāśikā of Bālakṛṣṇa Tripāṭhin by K. V. SarmaReview by: E. B.Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 88, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 1968), pp. 373-374Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/597309 .

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Brief Reviews of Books 373

and learning of Indian languages. The work, car- ried out under the auspices of the Educational Re- sources Center and the American Institute of Indian Studies will meet a long-felt need. Dr. Pattanayak plans to annotate the entries in the final edition.

(E. B.)

A Course X Urdu. By M. A. R. BARKER AND H. J. HAMDANI, K. M. SHAFI DIHLAVI and SHAFIQUR RAHMAN. Vol. I (Units 1-15), pp. 497; Vol. II (Units 16-25), pp. 569; Vol. III (five appendices, index and map) Pp. iv + 225. Montreal: MCGILL UNIVERSITY PRESS. 1967. $16.00. This work was initiated under the sponsorship of the British Council, the Ford Foundation, and the University of the Pun- jab, continued at the Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University, and concluded through support from the United States Office of Education, Depart- ment of Health, Education and Welware. An excel- lent presentation. The language is treated in detail against its proper cultural background. Grammati- cal examples (including the dialogues and essays) are ample and the explanation of function and usage lucid. The description of the Urdu (or Nastflik) script is clear and the calligraphy grace- ful and attractive to the eye. Suggested for a one- year, intensive course of approximately ten class- room-hours per week, with added work in the labo- ratory. (The dialogues, essays and phonological drills are available on tape), the materials can be reduced and adjusted to particular needs. Dr. Barker and his associates are to be congratulated for an impressive performance. (E. B.)

Buddhism or Communism: Which Holds the Future of Asia? By ERNST BENZ. Translated from the Ger- man by RICHARD and CLARA WINSrON. Pp. xiv + 185. New York: DOUBLEDAY AND COMPANY (AN- CHIOR Booxs). 1965. $0.95. The original was pub- lished in 1963 under the title Buddhas Wiederkehr And die Zukunft Asiens. In this, the result of his researches in South- and Southeast Asia, Dr. Benz examines the revival of Buddhism and the prospect of its influence on the contemporary Asian scene.

(E. B.)

The Monsoon Lands of Asia. By R. R. RAWSON. Pp. 256. Chicago: ALDINE PUBLISHING COMPANY. 1967. A paper-back reprint. The hardcover edition was published in 1963. (E. B.)

Twilight in Delhi. By ArMED ALm. Pp. viii + 290 (2nd rev. ed.) Neew York: Oxroun UNivEnsrry PREss. 1966. $3.60. A second, revised edition, with an introduction, of the novel which was first published by the Hogarth Press in 1940. This book, the plot of which deals with Muslim life in Delhi in the early 1900's, gained its author his first critical recognition. (E. M. Forster realized its merit when he read the typescript and influenced its publica- tion.) A milestone in Anglo-Muslim writing.

(E.B.)

The Vdlmiki-Rdmdyata. Oritical Edition. Vol. V. Ssndarakdnda. Edited by G. C. JHALA. Pp. Xva+ lvii + 496. Baroda: ORIENTAL INSTITUTE. 1966. The 29 mss. utilized for this edition indicate two clear recensions-a Southern and a Northern, the latter subdividing into a Northwestern, Northeast- ern and a Western. Professor Jhala notes that, while the mss. of the Southern recension are in agreement as to the extent of this Knida, (i. e., the beginning and the ending), the mss. of the Northern recension vary. He has concluded that the Southern Recension represents its true limits. The scholarship maintains the highest standards set by Professor Jhala's predecessors and partici- pants in this monumental task. We are saddened by the news of Professor Govindlal H. Bhatt's death. The Oriental Institute is fortunate to be able to call to its service as the new General Editor and Head of the Rammyana Department the distin- guished scholar Dr. Umakant Premnand Shah.

(E. B.

The Audumbaras. By K.ALYAN KUMAR DASGUPTA. Pp. xv + 42; 6 plates. (Calcutta Sanskrit College Re- search Series No. XLIV. Studies No. 26.) Cal- cutta: SANSKRIT COLLEGE. 1965. Rs. 4.00. In this essay, a segment of his "Tribal Coins of An- cient India (2nd century B. c.-4th century A. D.) ," the author conducts an exhausive examination of literary and numismatic materials to reconstruct the historical status of the Audumbaras, an ancient tribe of northern India, whose antiquity he traces back to the eighth century, B.C. (E. B.)

Viv'ekaeandrodaya-Ndtaka of Oiva-Kavi. Edited by K. V. SARMA. (Vishveshvaranand Indological Series, 37). Pp. xviii + 40. floshiarpur: VISHVESIIVARANAND INSTITUTE. 1966. Rs. 5.00. A drama in Sanskrit and Prakrit constructed on two levels--the one plot derived from the Puranic account of the svayarp- vara of Rukminl, princess of Vidarbha, with Krtisa, Lord of DvAraka, and the sub-plot, functioning as an allegory elucidating the principles of good gov- ernment and administration. This edition is based on one manuscript, dated Saxpvat 1819 (-Aaka 1685, A. D. 1763). "It piques one's curiosity to note that in every one of the contexts where the name of the poet's patron should normally occur in the drama the manuscript shows, instead, a gap. . . . A likely explanation would be that the poet had not yet dedicated his work to any royal patron and, perhaps, even not decided upon the person to whom such dedication should be made" (p. xv). Inspiration, it seems, has its price; any patron can pay. (E. B.)

PrahastikahiMa of BalakrSnta Trip4thin. Critically edited with introduction by K. V. SARMA. (Vishvesh- varanand Indological Series, 39). Pp. xxv + 60. H~oshiarpur: VISIHVESIHVARANAND INSTITUTE. 1967. Rs. 6.00. Shri Sarma, who based this critical edi- tion on eleven manuscripts, suggests the composi- tion of this work to the time-span 1600-1675 A. D.

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374 Journal of the American Oriental Society 88.2(1968)

and its author to have been an eminent pandit of KBA1, ancient Banaras. B. T. designed his book to service the needs of correspondents by providing them with samples of letters for all occasions, i. e., arranged into fifteen sections, the recipients rang- ing from "BrAhmanas " and " Ksatriyas" to "Mother," "Woman " and " Brother." A mirror of the customs of the times. The man-about-town could find a recipe for his favorite dish in the sec- tion on " Woman" where " is added a set of verses forming specimens giving expressions to one's love, to flatter the lady-love and to curry her favour " (p. xix). An interesting subject rendered even more so by the Editor's Introduction. (E. B.)

A Handbook of Asian Scripts. Edited by R. F. HoSKING and G. M. MEREDIT1-OWENS. Pp. viii + 71. Frontis- piece + 18 plates. London: TRhuSTEES OF THE BRITISH MusEum, 1966. $3.20. A guide to the exhibition of Asian scripts in the King's Library at the British Museum in July and August of 1966. The comments on the exhibits sketch the history of the various scripts. (E. B.)

Some Aspects of The History of Hinduism. By R. N. DANDEKAR. (Publications of the Centre of Ad- vanced Study in Sanskrit, Class B, No. 3.) Pp. ii-142. Poona: UNIVERSITY OF POONA, 1967. This book contains the text of five lectures delivered by the author at the K. R. Cama Oriental Institute in Bombay. It surveys the evolution of Hinduism from the earliest times up to the present day; it is, however, not a systematic history of Hinduism, but rather-and this makes it all the more inter- esting-a series of reflections on the history of Hinduism by one of the most outstanding Indian indologists. We agree with Dandekar that Hin- duism has the inherent capacity to adapt itself to modern life and modern society. We were de- lighted to see the Vedic period referred to as "an interlude" which " never became a popular cult." Our only fear is that the author is inclined to read too much in the Indus Valley documents, and that his reconstruction of " protohistoric Hinduism " takes for granted a number of elements the final interpretation of which has not yet been established.

(L. R.)

Some Poetical Aspects of The 1?gvedic Repetitions. By T. G. MAINKAR. (The Bhau Vishnu Astekar Vedic Research Series, vol. 2.) Pp. 116. Poona: UM- VERSITY OF POONA, 1966. In a series of five lec- tures the author takes up a subject for which Bloomfield and Gonda have been his main prede- cessors. The study of the poetical aspects of IRgvedic repetitions also raises the much larger problem of the nature and purpose of Rgvedic poetry. Mainkar has given much thought to this problem, and in his first lecture he offers an inter- esting historical survey of the various views ex- pressed on this point. The author's approach wants to be different from Bloomfield's and Gonda's: whereas for Bloomfield " the main interest is the

study of the thought aspects," and whereas Gonda stresses the fact "that magical elements may have been responsible," Mainkar is primarily concerned with "considerations of art and aesthetic beauty." One possible restriction: is the author not carried away by his enthusiasm when he makes the IRgvedic style responsible for the epic style, and when he says that " the 1Rgveda explains the whole of the Indian poetry that developed on the Indian soil?"

(L. R.)

Ancient Historians of India. A Study in Historical Biographies. By V. S. PATHAK. Pp. xvi + 184. New York: ASIA PUBLISHING HOTUSE, 1966. The main purpose of this interesting volume is to react against the widely spread opinion that the ancient Indians were not interested in history and, hence, had no historiography. It is true, no doubt, that the Indians had no historiography as it was under- stood by the ancient Greeks and Romans; but we fully agree with the author's effort to show that the so-called absence of history in ancient India is only a half-truth. Pathak has collected an im- pressive amount of materials, with special emphasis on the Harsacarita, Vikramrn,2kadevacarita, Vikra- m-cinkdbhyudaya, and Prthvirdjavijaya. Reading his book convinced us of the Sanskritists' obliga- tion to attach a far greater importance to the history of ancient India, and to direct their efforts toward a closer examination of the historic data which, contrary to the prevailing opinion, are not absent from the Indian sources. (L. R.)

Mandanamihra's Vibhramavivekah. Mit einer Studie zur Entwicklung der indischen Irrtumslehre. By LAM- BERT SCIIMITHAUSEN. (t sterreichische Akad. d. Wiss., Phil.-hist. KI., Sitzungsberichte, Bd. 247, 1.) Pp. 269. Vienna: BHrLAUS, 1965. 6S 440.00. So far only one manuscript of the Vibhramaviveka has been found. It was on this manuscript that Kuppuswami Sastri based his edition in 1932. The Madras manuscript was, however, not only unique; it also happened to be highly corrupt. As a result, notwithstanding several emendations, Kuppuswami's edition was not a very satisfactory one. No wonder that after 1932 no work was done on Mandana- misra's text, and that, apart from Easurkar's article in the Adyar Liberty Bulletin 23 (1959), Mandana's views on vibhrama remained unnoticed.

More than thirty years after Kuppuswami's edi- tion the codex unicus of the Vibhramaviveka was studied again by L. Schmithausen. Both from the philological and the philosophical point of view the new editor exploited all alleys that could rea- sonably be exploited under the circumstances. First he provides us with two texts, printed face to face: the text as it appears in the manuscript on the left, his own reconstructed text on the right. The foot- notes minutelv reflect all details of the manuscript, corrections by different hands, Kuppuswami's emendations, etc., i. e., any kind of data however small which mav be of interest for an eventually more perfect reconstruction of the text in the

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