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REYIEWS 249

In his Preface to the second edition, the aut hor said, “Things should be viewed and discussed on a global scalę¹’ as “no event is isolated from other events.^## Towards this end, “In order to keep conformity, development of ideas in various cultures should be viewed by a single author and then the delails be corrected by other scholars specialising in various aspects of human intclligence or in dilTerent traditions.” This is a perfectly acceptable stand which reflects a pleasing blend of erudition and modesty_v markable throughout this book. Though the present sludy is chiefly focussed on philosophical thought, the author deals with symbols and practices occasionally, which, the author rightly says, are inseparable from it. In conformity with this view, he also touches mylhs. In the very first chapter, “Myths, Gods and Sacrifice”, he proposes that these are closely connected with the early agricultural communities. He discusses the relation between man and God_f the efTIcacy of rituals, the search for the Absolute and the various theories regarding creation from A-sat, from Sat, from neither A-sat nor Sat , from Water, Ether, Fire and so on. Here, and in subsequent chapters, he takes the Vedic tradition as the basis for comparative study, followed by other similar traditions within the framcwork of the “East” and “West”, as dclineated by himself. Chapter II deals with “The Twilight of the Gods”, indicating the rise of Philosophy, as dusk galhers on individual gods. Hcre we have a comparison between the Upanisadic thinkers in ancient Greece, Chinese and others, with sprinklings from Avestan and drops from ancient Egypt, regarding the conccpt of the Absolute, Atman, Retribution, Rebirth, Transmigration, the developmcnl of Hcterodoxies and such other topics. Chapter ID takes a view of the “Early Universal Religions” with the image of their founders, their lives, their deification and worship, the fundamental attitudes in various religions, Human expcricnce and its aim, principlcs of Ethics and such other topics. Chapter IV deals with fealurcs of mcdieval thought and allied topics, while Chapter V studies some common fealures of modern thought and religious attitudes.

The book is greatly useful due to information collectcd over years of efforts and presented with a comparalive slant. We have information from various ancient scholars and travellers, such as Euripides, Isaiah, Megaslhenese who comparcd the views of the “Brahmins” to those of the Greeks and from Genchi Kato on the Shinto, not to menlion Confucious and other renowned thinkers.

On Rebirth the author accepts the view of Rhyas Davids that the concepts was borrowed by the Aryans from the Pre-Aryans (p. 128). However, nowhere he refers in this connection to the views of R. D. Ranade to the conlrary (though his famous book, A Constructive Sunę) of the Upanisadic Philosophy, was published as far back as in 1926 with its third print in 1986, while the second in i*68, prior to Nakamura’s first edition). It would have been