Vedic Literature (Saṃhitās and Brāhmaṇas) by Jan Gonda; Vedic Literature (Saṃhitās andBrāhmaṇas) The Ritual Sūtras by Jan GondaReview by: Ludo RocherJournal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 100, No. 1 (Jan. - Mar., 1980), pp. 41-42Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/601397 .

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Reviews of Books 41

The papers dealing with political topics explore the gov- erning structures in terms of internal developments and foreign relations. The contributions of Halil Inalcik, Abdul- Karim Rafeq and Andrew Hess focus on the relationship of the central administration to the provinces. Inalcik discusses the rising power of the Ayans and emphasizes the positive aspect of these developments, namely their role in later movements for local autonomy. Similarly, Rafeq looks at the rise of local families in Syria. Hess points out that the Ottomans suffered no territorial losses in North Africa during the eighteenth century, but since these rulers always enjoyed a large measure of independence, this argument for Ottoman strength does not seem altogether convincing.

In foreign relations, Ottoman power relative to Europe certainly declined. Naff points out that the growth of relations with Europe led to changes in Ottoman diplomacy which became the key to the defense of the Ottoman realm, replacing armed conflict. The capitulations, first granted unilaterally by an Ottoman Sultan secure in his superiority over the Europeans, became reciprocal, and by the end of the century the Ottomans had been incorporated into the European alliance system.

When one turns to economic issues, the picture does not seem all that much brighter. In his introduction, Owen points out the problems of finding both data and a theoreti- cal basis for analysis, since the Middle East was a pre- capitalist society. What information exists is sporadic and limited, and again one is faced with the relative nature of any judgments. Charles Issawi notes that even though there may have been a population increase in the Middle East between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, its population relative to Europe declined. And economic conditions in the eighteenth century were not uniform throughout the Ottoman Empire: things seem to have worsened in Egypt while im- proving in Anatolia. The one fact that can be stated unequiv- ocally is that European trade with the Middle East definitely increased. But whether this was good for the Middle East is a moot point: Robert Mantran shows that international trade in the Ottoman Empire was dominated by the West.

Andre Raymond, in discussing the sources of urban wealth in eighteenth century Cairo shows that the quality of native crafts was lower by the end of the century and that trade was in decline. In her paper, Afaf Lufti Al-Sayyid Marsot demonstrates how the 'Ulama in Cairo accumulated tax farms and political stature because of the chaotic state of the Mamluk rulers. But again the rise of one group does not necessarily argue against a more general decline.

The section on eighteenth century culture fails to provide much convincing evidence of vitality. As Albert Hourani says in his excellent introduction, contact with the West increased and with it European influence, but its impact on Islamic institutions was not always salubrious. R. C. Repp describes

the secularization of the 'Ulama and its growing pre- occupation with status rather than knowledge. John Carswell shows that the most interesting architecture of the eighteenth century was found in private rather than government buildings and in the smaller arts such as pottery. Aptullah Kuran sees little real European influence on eighteenth century Ottoman architecture and says that changes resulted from boredom with earlier styles.

One might question the inclusion of Persia in this collec- tion, since the picture from there is almost unremittingly gloomy. Of the papers dealing with Persia, only that of Hamid Algar which discusses the growth and vitality of eighteenth century Persian Shi'ism has anything positive to say. Anne Lambton notes that in political terms the eigh- teenth century was an interregnum between the Safavid and Qajar dynasties, and Charles Issawi, commenting on the economic aspects sees the eighteenth century as one of "collapse."

By changing the nature of the questions asked and by focussing on the periphery rather than the center, the authors of this volume can show instances of strength in the eigh- teenth century Islamic world. There is, however, always the danger of overcompensation: in attempting to make the case against decline, some of the authors attribute more impor- tance to their findings than they merit and are in danger of falling into the same trap as those whose interpretations they reject: that of concentrating too narrowly on one kind of evidence. The central thesis of the importance of the eigh- teenth century is never clearly proved, but the book does present valuable information which, if judiciously used, can help to formulate a truly balanced interpretation.

LINDA C. ROSE

NEW YORK CITY

Vedic Literature (Samhitas and Brahmanas). By JAN GONDA.

-The Ritual Satras. By JAN GONDA. (A History of Indian Literature. Edited by Jan Gonda, vol. I, fasc. 1,2.) Pp. vii + 1-463; [v] + 465-684. Wiesbaden: OTTO

HARRASSOWITZ. 1975, 1977. DM 168 + 98.

Professor Gonda's History of Indian Literature must, by now, comprise about a dozen fascicles, i.e., slightly more than one quarter of the forty odd fascicles contemplated at this stage. The general editor himself has taken charge of three of these fascicles, and some of the more voluminous ones at that: 286 pages of text on the medieval religious literature in Sanskrit-to be reviewed elsewhere in this jour- nal-and 523 pages of text on the Samhitas, Brahmanas, and SUtras.

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42 Journal of the American Oriental Society 100.1 (1980)

As someone who is personally committed to write a fascicle in the series, this reviewer is fully aware of the difficulties involved, today, in producing a reasonably com- plete and well balanced survey, even of a single branch of Indian literature, a survey also which is supposed to update and replace the classical treatises by Winternitz, Macdonell, Keith, and others. Besides being expected to be familiar with the basic texts themselves, the present-day historian of Indian literature has also to cope with an enormous and rapidly growing volume of secondary literature. The latter too has to be taken into consideration and critically evaluated. Few were better prepared to do justice to Vedic literature than the general editor himself. Few have, for as long a period as Gonda, studied Vedic texts of all kinds, and analyzed-and contributed to-the secondary literature. The result is two volumes which are at the same time highly technical but also very readable. Above all, they are what they are meant to be in the first place: reliable reference books, covering and discussing the entire field, with abundant footnotes pro- viding numerous references to the literature, primary and secondary as well.

One of the most striking features of the first fascicle is the importance of the Rgveda relative to that of the other Sam.hitds. Characteristically, chapter I is entitled: "Introduc- tion to the Veda in general and the Rgveda in particular." It starts with "General introductory definitions. Composition of the Rgveda," and continues with "the text of the Rgveda," etc. We have to wait until page 267 to turn away from the Rgveda, to the Atharvaveda. Whereas the latter is treated in 45 pages, the Sdmaveda receives 10 pages, the Yajurveda 15. Subsequently 84 pages are devoted to the Brahmanas, but only 10 to the Aranyakas. The entire second fascicle-197 pages-is reserved for the SUtras. These figures result less from Gonda's personal preferences, than they reflect the general state of Vedic scholarship, with its traditional neglect of the Yajurveda and the Samaveda. As far as the latter is concerned, mention might be made here of Wayne Howard's very recent Samavedic Chant (Yale University Press, 1977).

A couple of topics which one might look for in these volumes have been referred to other fascicles in the series. For instance, the Vedangas are enumerated, in eight lines, on page 34; in the second volume (p. 467 n. 8) there is a cross- reference to p. 34, and a note: "See the fascicles on Grammar, Metrics, etc." The existence of gulbasitras is referred to pp. 479-80, with a footnote: "These texts are discussed in the fascicles on mathematics, technics and architecture."

Each fascicle has its own glossary-partly overlapping, but always consistent. This is followed by a list of abbreviations including abbreviated titles of books mentioned in the foot- notes, and periodicals-also with a few minor variations. Both final indexes are extensive-even though the footnotes have been indexed "only sporadically," with the result that,

e.g., "Thieme, P." has only two entries. Their usefulness will have to be tested by prolonged use of the fascicles as reference books. I was at first puzzled by the entry "Roman 564," until I read about "the often complicated Indian, Roman, German, Slavonic and other marriage ceremonies," on page 546.

Vol. I fasc. 1 also contains the "Editor's Introduction to the History" (pp. 1-6), in which Professor Gonda explains the goals and the magnitude of the total enterprise.

LUDO ROCHER

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

Mahasubhdsitasamgraha. Volume III: Subhdsitas Nos. 4209- 6285, A - I - 1 (am jiditam-Tha dhanasya). By LUDWIK

STERNBACH. Edited by S. Bhaskaran Nair. Pp. ix + 1033- 1596. Vishveshvaranand Indological Series-71. Vishvesh- varanand Vedic Research Institute Publication-641. Hoshiarpur: VISHVESHVARANAND VEDIC RESEARCH INSTI-

TUTE. 1977. Rs. 100.00.

As the lovers of classical Indian literature are anxiously looking forward to the complete publication of Professor Sternbach's magnum opus Mahasubhasitasamgraha in some twenty volumes by the V. V. R. I., the appearance of Vol. III of the work within a year and a half from that of Vol. II is very encouraging. This volume contains 2077 subhdsitas, covering a, i and T of the Sanskrit alphabet, all critically edited and rendered into English with sources (primary, secondary and G.I.) traced, variants noted and metres men- tioned as in the first two volumes. Three indices have been appended to this volume too - I. Index of Authors and Sources of Individual Verses, II. Index of Sanskrit Metres and III. Subject Index. There are Addenda and Corrigenda to Volume III, but no further addenda and corrigenda to Vols. I and II as in Vol. II.

The selection of verses as well as their editing continues to be highly satisfactory. The following additions may, however, be considered for the supplementary volumes: Manusmrti: II.244 (d samapteh . . . ), IV. 162 (acaryam ca . . . ), XI.48 (iha dufcaritaih . . . ). Mahdbhdrata (Gita Press, Gorakhpur, Vol. I, 2013 V.S.): Adiparvan, 73.7 (atmano bandhur ... ), 139.11 (apadyapadi ...); Vanaparvan, 29.27 (akrustah purusah... .), 206.40 (indriydndm nigraham.. .), 207.77 (drambho nyaya.. 209.54 (indriyanam nirodhena...), 313.76 (anrsamsyam paro ..., cf. subhasitas Nos. 4869-72); (Vol. II, 2014 V.S.:) Virataparvan, 49.4 (dnukz7lyena. . .); Uddyogaparvan, 51. 51 (adadanasya.. .), 69.18-19 (indriyanam udTrndndm... and indriydna-m yame.. .); (Vol. III, 2014 V.S. :) Karnaparvan,

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