"INDIAN CULTURE - A Compendium of Indian History, Culture and Heritage" is the result of three years of hard work and intellectual toil. The 250 plus Sanskrit Quotations in the original Kannada work have now been translated to English with the help of Sanskrit scholars and linguists. Many of the illustrations and sketches (originally done by S. Srikanta Sastri himself) have been re-done to highlight the details better. The inclusion of a thorough Bibliography and INDEX at the end hopefully will aid the reader better navigate the 674 pages of the book.
The Kannada original saw five reprints and was something of a best seller in academic circles, especially with Kannada readers. This translation in English, it is hoped, will showcase the book to a global readership and help them wade through the life and times of possibly the oldest surviving civilisation on this planet.
To surmise the essence of the book, the following Translator's Note is reproduced here:
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ, ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ, ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ค ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ด ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ด “๐๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ณ๐บ๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ฏ๐ท๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ข ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ด๐ต?”, “๐๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฆ ๐ด๐บ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฏ?”, “๐๐ช๐ฅ ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ซ๐ฐ๐บ ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ข๐ญ ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด?”, “๐๐ข๐ด ๐๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ค ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ๐ด?”, “๐๐ฉ๐บ ๐๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐น๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ฏ?”, “๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ข’๐ด ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ, ๐๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ด, ๐๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐บ, ๐๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ, ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐บ, ๐๐ฆ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ถ๐ณ๐จ๐บ, ๐ฆ๐ต๐ค.?”, “๐๐ข๐ด ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ช๐จ๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด?”, “๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ข ๐ช๐ฏ๐ง๐ญ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด?”, “๐๐ด ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ฌ๐ณ๐ช๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง-๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฐ-๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ถ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ๐ด ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฑ?”, “๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ, ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ค ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ถ๐ญ๐ฆ?”.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ท๐ฆ๐น๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐บ, ๐๐ฑ๐ช๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฉ๐บ, ๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ด, ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ถ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ช๐จ๐ฏ ๐ท๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด.
The author Dr S. Srikanta Sastri passed away in 1974 - long before the era of radio carbon dating, before archaeo-genetics was an accepted specialty and long before Out of India migration theory had the widespread acceptance that it has today. Yet, it is for these very reasons, this book holds great promise. Dr. S. Srikanta Sastri was among the earliest proponents of the Out of India Migration Theory. His articles on Harappan Town Planning and Indus Valley Proto-Indic Religion were revolutionary and hold much allure to scholars even to this day.
This translation is not meant to be an updation of the work, originally penned in 1944 and published in 1954. It is a translation and nothing more. As a translator, I am fully aware of the challenges inherent in the arduous task of bringing a work as complex as Bharathiya Samskruthi (with its multitude of Kannada, Sanskrit and often Prakrit quotations) into English. It is also pertinent to mention that S. Srikanta Sastri in his original preface conceded ample room to dissenters and sceptics who were more than eager to find fault in his work. New research begets new perspectives. History gets re-written all the time. More than anyone, the author was aware of this fact and has stated as much in his preface! The purpose of mentioning this here is this - The translation needs to be read and enjoyed for the grand work that it is. It is not everyday that a writer is able to place 10,000 years of civilisation from stone age to present day, replete with references and proofs, with such candour and eloquence as S. Srikanta Sastri has. May be that in itself is enough reason to give it a try.
The book is available for online purchase at the following links within INDIA for now:
๐ธ๐๐ธโค๐โ ๐โ๐ป๐๐ธ
๐ฝ๐๐โ๐๐ธโ๐ ๐โ๐ป๐๐ธ
โ๐๐๐๐โโโ๐ผ๐๐ ๐โ๐ป๐๐ธ
Also in the offing is an eBook version which will be made available shortly on all popular platforms.
For those of you interested in seeing the CONTENTS list and SNIPPETS/ EXCERPTS from the book, kindly click the link here:
Wishing all readers and my well wishers a fulfilling reading experience. It is high time, India's story from antiquity till date, be told right, for once (and by an Indian for a change)!!
