Within the Atma (soul) he is revealed as in a mirror, in the world of Pitris (ancestors) as merged in dreams and imagination, in the world of Gandharvas (celestial musicians) he appears rhythmically vibrated as if seen on the face of moving waters, and in this our Brahma Loka (Highest to the lowest heaven) he is revealed through the contrast of shade and light.

'He is revealed in the soul as in a mirror,'-this idea of the Upanisads is echoed in the Japanese art philosophy by the word sha-i "They paint what they feel rather than what they see but they first see very distinctly" (as if mirrored in the soul) (Vide Page 8, On the Laws of Japanese Painting, Henry P. Bowie).

'Revealed through the contrasts of Light and Shade'-this idea was more clearly defined by the Philosophy of the Jivatma and Paramatma where the two were described as a pair of 'Suparna' Birds living in the same tree, one active and eating of the fruit of enjoyment, and the other without eating, without enjoying, sits inactive facing his companion. The Law of In-Yo in the Chinese and Japanese art exactly corresponds to the above doctrine of Vedanta. "In-Yo......requires that there should be in every painting the sentiment of active and passive, light and shade (Chhaya and Atap)...The term In-Yo originated in the earliest doctrines of Chinese philosophy and has always existed in the art-language of the Orient. It signifies darkness (In-Chhaya) and light (Yo-Atap), negative and positive, female and male (Prakriti and Purush), passive and active (as the two 'Suparna'-Birds)

Two flying crows, one with its beak closed, the other with its beak open......or two dragons, one ascending to the sky, the other descending to the ocean". (Vide Page 48, On the Laws of Japanese Painting, Henry P. Bowie).

The Second Law of our six limbs of Painting gives us Pramanani-correct perception, proportion, measure and structure of forms. Prama not only determines the length and breadth of a thing but also tells us how far or how near the thing is. This law of Prama is practically the same as the En-Kin of the Chinese art-philoso

phy......"So far as the perspective is concerned, in the great treatise of Chu Kaishu entitled, The Poppy Garden Art Conversation, a work laying down the fundamental laws of landscape painting, artists are specially warned against disregarding the principle of perspective called En-Kin meaning what is far and what is near." (Vide Page 8, On the Laws of Japanese Painting, Henry P. Bowie).

Now about 'Byangya' (suggestiveness) which is one of the qualities of Bhava (action of feelings on forms) and which takes the third place in our six limbs of Painting.

In the first chaptar of Kavya-prakasha Mammata Bhatta says:

'Sabdachitram bachyachitram abyangyam tu avaram smritam'-all representations, be they given through the means of sounds or through the means of words, are inferior representations unless there is Byangya (suggestiveness) in such representations.

In the Japanese art-language this principle of Byangya is called Yukashi. "Such suggestion or stimulation of the imagination is called Yukashi......(Vide Page 47, On the Laws of Japanese Painting, Henry P. Bowie ).

Thus the Ethics of Indian Philosophy and Art even in their minutest details are echoed and re-echoed by the six canons of Chinese Painting which compared with the perfect planning of the Indian Six Limbs of Painting appear to be more or less loosely strung, showing little unity of the six as a whole. As far as could be judged from translation, many subordinate things, such as the copying of classic models, finish, &c., are there simply to fill up gaps as it were and to make the number of the Chinese art canons come up to six.

The want of cohesiveness between each of its component parts as well as the unity of the thing as a whole, also the lack of any well-arranged plan in the composition of the six Chinese canons, lead us to believe that at the time when Hsieh-Ho was laying down the six canons of Chinese painting much of the art-philosophy as contained in the original six limbs of Indian Painting was lost to China or only imperfectly remembered by art-writers of the age.

We regret

ERRATA.

very much that in the review of "Krishna and the Gita" published in our last number, several misprints have crept in. The two more serious are mentioned below.

Page 672, column 2, line 26, omit the word "patronisingly."

Page 672, column 2, line 38, for "superstitious" read “supercilious.”

ART

R. C.

We have received eight chromo-lithographs of Indian paintings published by the Indian Press of Allahabad. They are all well reproduced. As works of art the best in our opinion are "The Passing of Shah Jahan" by Abanindranath Tagore and "Chaitanya" by Nanda Lall Bose.

The Arts and Crafts of India and Ceylon, by Ananda K. Coomaraswamy. Published by T. N. Foulis, Edinburgh 1913, with 225 illustrations, price 6s. net (Rs. 5-4-0). To be had of the Indian Society of Oriental Art, 7, Old Post Office Street, Calcutta.

Dr. Coomaraswamy's handy little volume, published, with profuse illustrations, in the well-known 'Arts and Crafts' series, has well maintained, and has, perhaps, enhanced the reputation of this series of admirable handbooks so familiar to us through Professor Flinders Petrie's 'Arts and Crafts' of ancient Egypt (1909). That a volume should be devoted, in this popular series, 'to aid in the understanding' of Indian Art is one of the testimonies of the growing interest in the study of the Art of India as a characteristic record of its peculiar history and civilization. pto the last few years the fine arts of India, as illustrated in sculpture and painting, have either been denied to exist, or have been contemptuously dismissed as unworthy of attention, by the fashionable artexponents of Europe, as the arts of India had failed to answer the test furnished by experts brought up in classical traditions and the Italian Renaissance. The study of the arts of the extreme orient has recently enlarged the scope of aesthetic vision in Europe and has widened the basis of artistic criticism. As soon as these critics were led to brush aside their Hellenistic prepossessions they instantly recognized originality of idea and expression in Indian sculpture and painting, which only a few years ago, they asserted, were bastard of the occident, in their origin. Only four years ago a group of English artists maintained in a manifesto published in the Times that "Indian art is a lofty and adequate expression of the religious emotions of the people and of their deepest thoughts on the subject of the divine"; and the Indian type of Buddha was pronounced to be "one of the great artistic inspirations of the world". This has led to greater curiosity to know more of Indian art in its aesthetic aspects. This curiosity is now in the process of being supplied with materials. After the publication of the stupendous volumes illustrating the paintings and sculptures of India, e. g., Indian Paintings and Sculptures, Ideals of Indian Art, Selected examples of Indian Art, Indian Drawings, History of

Indian Fine Arts, which, in their scope and costly productions, were intended more for the connoisseurs and learned critics, a demand for a popular and a cheap hand-book inevitable. Dr. Coomaraswamy's present handbook is admirably well suited to meet this demand.

was

As the author has explained in the preface, 'the book is intended for ordinary persons rather than for archaeological specialists'. The history of the art illustrated in its growth and decay is not touched, as it would require a far greater range of illustrations and will hardly attract the general reader. The matters set forth in the book were originally delivered in the form of extension lectures in the University College, London, in 1912 and the nature of the exposition is intended primarily for persons unfamiliar with Indian religious ideas and interesting synopsis in the first chapter, giving the character and history of Indian civilization, supplies the necessary data for the study of Indian Art and the atmosphere in which it was born and has flourished. The Indian view of life, based on its philosophy and attitude towards nature has been very well interpreted and illustrated in the various arts and crafts of India in which it finds such articulate expression.

the

The author has some very pertinent remarks to make on the appreciation of art:

...

"I do not perceive a fundamental distinction of arts as national-Indian, Greek, or English. All art interprets life; it is like the Vedas, eternal, independent of the accidental conditions of those who see or hear. Hence if one should say that he is touched by the Italian, and not by the Chinese primitives, or by Greek, and not by Egyptian or Indian Sculpture, we understand that he has done no more than accept a formula. It is this habit of accepting formulas which makes it so often possible for one form of truth to be used in denial of all others; like Michael Angelo, we are apt to say that Italian painting is good, and therefore good painting is Italian. This not only prevents our understanding the arts of other races, but is the chief cause of the neglect of living artists: patrons are not sufficiently sensitive to trust their judgment outside the accepted formulas we ought not to like a work of art merely because it is like something we like. It is unworthy to exploit a picture or a phrase merely as a substitute for a beautiful environment or a beloved friend. We ought not to demand to be pleased and flattered, for our true need is to be touched by love or fear. The meaning of art is far deeper than that of its immediate subject" (p. 57-58.) Indeed this pernicious habit of accepting the accidents or idiosyncrasies of art and to judge a work of art by its subject matter apart from its manner of representation have stood in the way of Europeans as well as Indians appreciating the greatness of Indian art. The polycephalous and zoomorphic Indian images, says the European critic, are monstrosities and as such are incapable of being treated as fine arts and are intrinsically bad art. Similarly the Indians having accepted the fashionable types in modern European art which they have learnt

to respect find the products of Indian craftmanship devoid of any artistic merit because they do not find anything in them which they have learnt by rote to admire in European art. Similarly our educated Indians are unable to understand any new movement even in European art which strikes out any fresh path and thus happens to offend their favourite formula. The masterpieces of Indian literature had to pass through a similar attitude of indifference and neglect on the part of the educated gentry from our University and the treasures of Indian art are now faring the same fate in the estimate of the same esteemed class. The principal reason for this lack of interest must be found in the lack of opportunity or a desire to study and investigate the masterpieces of Indian art which are scattered all over India in various out of the way places, in obscure nooks or corners, in temples, or in shrines, which do not ordinarily come within the itinerary of the average educated youth from the College. Any publication therefore which could provide in an accessible form, with abundant illustrations, sufficient materials for the study of this important phase of Indian civilization is of great importance as likely to arouse interest and curiosity in a subject in which the same are conspicuously lacking. For out of interest and curiosity comes knowledge and from knowledge, appreciation. Out of this interest and curiosity in the masterpieces of Old Bengal literature we have been led to indefatigable searches after old manuscripts in every nook and corner of our villages which have revealed in our Vaishnavite and pre-Vaishnavite vernacular poems, in our folk-songs and ballads exquisite gems of artistic compositions which (inspite of their peculiar conventions, their religio-philosophical idiosyncrasies, their crudities, their provincialism and their archaisms) we have agreed to honour with the best literary masterpieces of the world. The Indian mind in its infinitely various aspects have found as much effective expression in the literary scripts to them, in the gajan songs, in the Sonnets of Vidyapati, in the abhangas of Tukaram or the poetry of St. Appar, as in the aesthetic scripts recorded with the chisel or the pencil. The masterpieces of Indian literary records are great and inspiring not because they resemble either in their form, technique or ideas the masterpieces of Europe, but because they have a character, a temperament and a flavour all their own and have displayed all the beauties and characteristic qualities of great literature qua literature. It is puzzling therefore to find our modern litterateurs with their unbounded enthusiasm for the vernacular literature turn their face against the examples of the old vernacular art of India and to refuse to look at them as if they were forbidden fruits.* They forget for the moment that art is an equally exquisite form of Sahitya, a medium of companionship with other ideas, and that "Craftsmanship is a mode of thought".

To return to our author, we find that with the aid of 225 carefully chosen illustrations, a general survey of the whole field of Indian art has been given in a very short compass (250 pages) which is likely to be very useful to the ordinary reader desiring to have a first acquaintance with the subject. The matter is

are

divided into 2 parts, the first dealing with Hindu and Buddhist art, the second with Mughal Art. Each part is subdivided into chapters dealing with sculpture, painting, architecture, metal work, enamels, jewellery, woodwork, ivory, stone, earthenware and textiles. The chapters on ivory, metal work and textiles are very interesting and the examples illustrated fully bear out the claims for artistic reputation of Indian applied art. The author's assertion "that the vast majority of fine metal images are of copper and that bronze is rarely used" requires some correction. A good portion of the Mahayanist images are of bronze as also the numerous South Indian figures which are composed of more than one metal and known as 'pancha lauha' figures, although copper is now used in larger proportion than was usual in former times. In the present state of Indian archaeology any classification of the schools of style of Indian art with dates of the periods however tenative is more or less a speculative task and the author's very rough outline of the periods (p. 41) even now requires an adjustment in view of Dr. Marshall's recent discoveries at Sanchi which tend to show that the gates with the sculptures belong to much later times. The period of the rise and growth of the Gandhara art in view of the evidences discovered must be attributed to at least the 1st century B. C., which marks the period of the culmination of this school.

There are some minor misdescriptions in describing some of the illustrations chiefly as regards their locale. The lamp-figure (illus. 111 ) is not Orissan but a distinctly South Indian example. The brass horse (illus. 107) comes from Orissa, not from Rajputana. Panel of Vishnu lying on the serpent-bed (illus. 33) is from Mamalla-puram and not from Anuradhapuram as suggested in the List of illustrations. O. C. G.

ENGLISH

The

The Religion of the Sikhs, by Dorothy Field. Published by John Murray, Albemarle Street, London. Pp. 114. Price

25. net.

The book is the latest addition to the "Wisdom of the East" series. It is divided into four chapters. In the first chapter a short description is given of the Sikh Gurus. The subject of the second chapter is "The Religious origins of Sikhism." The third chapter is the most important of all; in it is described the doctrines of the Sikhs. In the last chapter which is the longest chapter (pp. 63-114) there have been quoted hymns from the Granth Sahib and from the Granth of the Tenth Guru.

The description given of the Gurus is very meagre. The readers will get, from the third chapter, a fair idea of what Sikhism is. The attitude of the writer is sympathetic.

The following summary is quoted from Mr. Macauliffe's work on the Sikh Religion:

"It prohibits idolatry, hypocrisy, caste exclusiveness, the concremation of widows, the immurement of women, the use of wine and other intoxicants, tobacco-smoking, infanticide, slander, pilgrimages to sacred rivers and tanks of the Hindus, and it inculcates loyalty, gratitude for all favours received. philanthropy, justice, impartiality, truth, honesty and all the moral and domestic virtues known to the honest citizens of any country."

The Sacred Books of the Hindu s: (No. 55, January 1914) Vol. XI-Part IV. Samkhya-Pravachana Sutram

translated by Babu Nandalal Sinha, M.A., B.L., P.C.S.; published by Babu Sudhindranath Basu, at the Panini Office, Bahadurganj, Allahabad. Pp. 231-326. Price Re. 1-8. Annual subscription: Inland Rs. 12. 12 as.; Fareign £1.

In this part the Second Book and 51 Sutras of the Third Book have been translated.

The book contains :—

(i) Sanskrit Text in Devanagri character. (ii) Padapatha with meaning of every word. (iii) Translation of the Sutras. (iv) The English Translation of the Vritti of Aniruddha. (v) The English Translation of the Bhasya of Vijnan Bhikshu. (vi) Translator's Notes to elucidate difficult points.

The series is being well edited and translated.

Spiritual Life, by Babu Hemchandra Sarkar. Pp. 19. Price 6 pies. (Published by the Andhra Brahma Postal Mission, Cocanada).

This sermon was preached by Babu Hemchandra Sarkar, M. A., on the occasion of initiating Mr. K. Kaliana Swami B. A., B. L., into Brahmaism on the 26th January, 1914.

It is a good sermon.

Ten Noble Women, by Margaret Bretherton. Published by the Christian Literature Society of India (Madras & Colombo). Pp. 6o. Price 4 annas.

In this book we find short biographies of the following eminent women:

1. Frances Willard, the Temperance worker. 2. Sister Dora, the Nurse. 3. Fidelia Fiske, the Teacher. 4. Catherine Booth, the Evangelist. 5. Elizabeth Fry, the Friend of the Prisoner. 6. Madame Guyon, the Mystic. 7. Frances Ridley Havergal, the Hymn-writer. 8. Harriet Beecher Stowe, the Champion of the slaves. 9. The Countess of Huntingdon, the Lady of Society.10. Josephine Butler, the Champion of womanhood.

Longman's Indian Reading Books :

GRADE IV.

1. The King's Tale. Price 7 as.

With illustrations. 72 pages.

2. The Story of Rama. With ro illustrations from the Ravivarma and Lakshmi Series. 72 pages. Price—4 annas. GRADE V.

I. Romantic Tales & Legends from Hindu sources, with 14 illustrations from the Ravivarma & Lakshmi series. 94 pages. Price 6 annas.

All these books are well written and are very interesting and we draw the attention of our teachers to this excellent series.

The Islamic Series. Published by the Christian Literature Society for India, Madras.

1. The Quranic Doctrine of Sin, by the Rev. W.R.W'. Gardner, M. A. Pp. 43. Price 4 annas.

2. The Quranic Doctrine of Salvation, by the same author. Pp 59. Price 4 annas.

"With regard to the Quran and its teaching," says the author, "all we can say is that we can see nothing in the book to justify us in believing that Muhamed himself had any deep conviction of sin or demanded that believers should experience it. His teaching is rather that sin, though a great offence against God, is not something which puts a man where he needs redemption. God does not redeem man. He simply forgives him when he repents." According to the author "the Quran does not insist on the necessity of regeneration which can alone be the basis of any true doctrine of sanctification. The absence of teaching on the necessity of regeneration naturally arises from the view taken by Muhammad concerning sin and the result of sin on man's nature.'

3. Muslims in China, by the Rev. Canon Sell. Pp. 31.

The author says:

"Muslims in China possess much religious liberty, though occasionally restricted after rebellions: but they purchase whatever liberty they enjoy by conforming to pagan practices and ceremonial and by a subservieney to the prejudices of the State officials and of the literary classes, in a manner not usual As amongst their co-religionists in other lands. ..... regards their dogmatic beliefs they may be classed as orthodox Muslims, but they are certainly lax and time-serving in their conduct and relation to others of an alien faith." In conclusion the author calls upon the missionary societies to carry on their work amongst the Muslims of China.

Siratu-i-Mustaqim: The Straight Path: by the Rev. J. Takle and published by the Christian Literature Society for India (Madras). Pages 87. Price 4 annas.

The following subjects are dealt with in the book :(i) Religion a Relationship. (ii) The RelationshipPaternal and Fraternal. (iii) What Muhummad teaches concerning the Relationship between God and man. (iv) What does the Lord Jesus Christ teach concerning the Relationship? (v) The Ideal Relationship with God as seen in the consciousness of Christ (vi) Muhammadan objections. (vii) How the Muslim and Christian conceptions of Man's Relationship with his Maker work out in the Religious Social and Political spheres.

In the last chapter (eighth) the author appeals to the Moslems to weigh the words of Jesus Christ, study the testimony given to his divinity, and meditate upon his character.

MOHES CHANDRA GHOSH

1.

The Ancient Roman Empire and the British Empire in India: the Diffusion of Roman and English Law throughout the World: two historical studies: by James Bryce, author of "The Holy Roman Empire," "The American Common- wealth." Oxford University Press, 1914. 6 shillings net.

The great statesman and author whose name is associated with these two studies is well-known for his liberal views and sympathetic handling of political problems. After a perusal of the volume under review we confess to a sense of disappointment, all the more keen because the scholarly historian who wrote these Essays raised expectations of a somewhat different kind. In treating of India, he has left his sympathies behind him, and has viewed everything in the cold light of expediency. For a person who wants to justify the rule of one nation by another, it is perhaps necessary to divest himself of those moral standards which are usually applied to governments. The noblest doctrines, such as those which we have seen enunciated by Dr. Bryce in connection with other races and other climes, are coolly discarded in favour of a more materialistic standard when the British administration in India has to be judged. Evidently the author believes that even the fundamental political maxims on which every government, in order to be efficacious, should be based, must yield to the furcoat argument with which another British Statesman, 'Honest John', has made us familiar. We are compelled to conclude that the honesty of European scholars and thinkers, even in the domain of thought, is not of universal application, and is not meant to be extended to peoples and governments east of the Suez Canal.

the

uses

The learned author frequently refers to 'conquest' of India by a handful of British troops. Nowhere does he refer to the views of Sir J. Seely and his school, who hold that India was conquered by Indians for the British, and not by the British themselves. Everywhere he alludes to India as being 'lower in civilisation', 'semibarbarous', and other epithets of the same description, showing that he has a very mistaken and superficial notion of our hoary culture and civilisation, and that his brief sojourn in India in the eighties gave him but little insight into our life and society. The vulgar selfglorification, and the readiness to be deceived born of selfish greed, which are so commonly met with among Anglo-Indian writers, have also tainted our learned author, otherwise he would be incapable of writing stuff like this:

on

'It has been the good fortune of England to stand far off from the conquered countries, and to have had a population too large to suffer sensibly from the moral evils which conquest and the influx of wealth bring in their train' (p. 72). The deterioration of the English nation in this respect is so plain that he who runs may read it. Again, it is possible for a European race to rule a subject native race principles of strict justice, restraining the natural propensity of the stronger to abuse their power. India has been, and is, ruled on such principles' (p. 73). Once more: 'to India severance from England would mean confusion, bloodshed, and pillage.* To England however, apart from the particular events which might have caused the snapping of the tie, and apart from the possible loss of a market,severance from India need involve no lasting injury ' (p. 78). The impli

Had India no government before the British government and is law and order better than progress and growth? Dr. Bryce himself has elsewhere ('Holy Roman Empire') placed progress above order.

cation here is that India is held by England solely or mainly in the interest of India herself, and that the white man bears his 'burden' for the benefit not of himself, but of the Indians. Is it for this altruistic reason that the British have imprinted 'upon their rule in India a permanently military character' (p. 12), so that society in India 'is military society, military first and foremost, though with an infusion of civilian officials' (p. 13), and 'the traveller from peaceful England feels himself, except perhaps in Bombay, surrounded by an atmosphere of gunpowder all the time he stays in India' (p. 14)? Or does the author, actuated by the same philanthropic motive, refer to the breaking down of the demarcations of caste, and the assimilation of the jarring elements, racial, linguistic and religious, as 'a source of political danger to the rulers of the country' (p. 21)? Or is not the opposition to the appointment of a few natives of ability and force of character to the highest civil and military posts, which the author anticipates from members of the regular civil service, 'who would consider their prospects of promotion to be thereby prejudiced' (p. 43), also due to the anxiety of the white man to shoulder his delectable burden all alone? Dr. Bryce-we believe he has recently been elevated to the peerage-speaks with greater authority when he summarises the results of Roman Imperialism and points out its effect on the status of the people of the provinces. Here is an extract: "Very soon, however, citizens born in the provinces began to be admitted to the great offices and to be selected by the Emperor for high employment. . . . If a man deemed otherwise eligible, did not happen to be a full Roman citizen, the Emperor forthwith made him one. By the time of the Antonines (A. D. 138-80) there was practically no distinction between a Roman and a provincial citizen; and we may safely assume that the large majority of important posts, both military and civil, were held by men of provincial traction. Indeed, merit probably won its way faster to military than to civil distinction So, long before full citizenship was granted to all the inhabitants of the Roman world (about A. D. 217), it is clear that not only the lower posts in which provincials had already been employed, but the highest also were freely open to all subjects. A Gaul might be sent to govern Cilicia, or a Thracian Britain, because both were now Romans rather than Gauls or Thracians..... .....Nothing contributed more powerfully to the unity and the strength of the Roman dominion than this sense of an imperial nationality. (The italics are ours)............In the third century A.D., a Gaul, a Spaniard, a Pannonian, a Bithynian, a Syrian called himself a Roman, and for all practical purposes was a Roman. The interests of the Empire were his interests, its glory his glory, almost as much as if he had been born in the shadow of the capitol............ the Romans had but one army in which all subjects had an equal chance of rising” (pp. 39–42).

vinces

ex

And what has Dr. Bryce to say of British Imperialism and the status of Indians within the Empire? .........the English, unlike the Romans, have continued to reserve the higher posts for men of European stock." 'Russia places Mussalmans from the Caucasian proto high military posts' (pp. 40-42). Dr. Bryce, who held the high office of Ambassador to the United States, assumes an air of patronage towards the Americans, and in a manner invites them to study and follow the British method of administration in India, but happily for the good name of Western civilization the Americans have chosen far different principles of Government in the Phillipines. The