Dr. S. Srikanta Sastri's Foreword to Ta. Ra. Su's "Nrupatunga"

​ಮುನ್ನುಡಿ 

​

​

ಮಾನವನ ದುಃಖಪರಂಪರೆಯ ನಿವಾರಣೆಗಾಗಿ ವ್ಯವಹಾರ ಪ್ರಪಂಚದಲ್ಲಿ ಸೂಕ್ತ ಮಾರ್ಗವನ್ನು ಕಂಡುಹಿಡಿಯುವುದು ವಿಶ್ವದ ತತ್ವಾನ್ವೇಷಿಗಳ ಕರ್ತವ್ಯವಾಗಿದೆಯೆಂಬುದು ಚರಿತ್ರೆಯಿಂದ ವಿದಿತವಾಗಿದೆ. ಆಕಸ್ಮಿಕ ಘಟನೆ, ಕಾಲಯಂತ್ರ ಅಥವಾ ಯುದ್ಧದ ಮೂಲಕವಲ್ಲದೆ ಜಗತ್ತಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಶಾಂತಿಯು ನೆಲೆಸಬೇಕಾದರೆ ಒಂದೇ ಮಹಾವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ರಾಜಕೀಯ ಶಕ್ತಿಯೂ ಆತ್ಮ ಜ್ಞಾನವೂ ಸೇರಿರಬೇಕೆಂದೂ ಆತ್ಮಜ್ಞಾನಿಗಳೇ ರಾಜರಾಗಬೇಕು ಅಥವಾ ಆಡಳಿತ ನಡೆಸುವವರು ಸಂಪೂರ್ಣವಾಗಿ ತತ್ವಜ್ಞಾನ ಹೊಂದಿರಬೇಕು ಎಂದು ಪ್ಲೇಟೋ* ಅಭಿಪ್ರಾಯಪಟ್ಟನು. ಇದು ಸಾಧ್ಯವೇ, ಜಗತ್ತಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಅಂತಹ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಗಳು ಎಷ್ಟಿರುವರು? ತತ್ವಾನ್ವೇಷಣೆಯ ಉದ್ದೇಶ ನಿಸ್ಸಂಗತ್ವದಿಂದ ನಿರ್ಮೋಹತ್ವವನ್ನು ಸಾಧಿಸಿ ಅದರಿಂದ ನಿಶ್ಚಲತತ್ವ ಮತ್ತು ಜೀವನ್ಮುಕ್ತಿ ಪಡೆಯುವುದಿಲ್ಲವೇ? ಸಮಾಜದ ಉದ್ದಾರಕಾರ್ಯ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಯ ನಿಸ್ಸಂಗತ್ವಕ್ಕೆ ಕೇವಲ ವಿರುದ್ಧವಲ್ಲವೇ ಎಂದು ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳು ಏಳುವುವು. ಪ್ರಪಂಚದ ಬಂಧನದಿಂದ ತಪ್ಪಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳಲು ಯತ್ನಿಸಿತ್ತಿರುವವನು ತಪ್ಪು ದಾರಿ ಹಿಡಿದ ಪ್ರಪಂಚವನ್ನು ತಿದ್ದುವ ಹವ್ಯಾಸಕ್ಕೆ ಏಕೆ ಹೋಗಬೇಕು? ಒಬ್ಬ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಯ ಆತ್ಮ ಬಲಿದಾನದಿಂದ ಸಮಾಜವೆಲ್ಲ ಉದ್ದಾರವಾಗುವದೆಂಬ ಕೆಲವು ಮತಗಳ ...

_______

* There is no hope of a cessation of evils in the states and, in my opinion, none for mankind - except through a personal union between political power and philosophy.....The Union may be achieved in two ways, Either the philosophers must become Kings and potentates must take - genuinely and thoroughly to philosophy. 

(Plato: Republic 473. D)

To the read full Foreword, Click Here. 

'Indian Music' by Dr. S. Srikanta Sastri

Indian music has a great and immemorial tradition, going back to the prehistoric period of the Vedas which were perhaps the earliest records of mankind to be put into a metrical form. It is therefore no wonder that the whole subsequent development of Indian music was dominated by a religious spirit, in spite of political and economic vicissitudes. Indian tradition asserts that the evolution of the musical scale can be traced through the three tones of the Rg Veda (Ni-Sa-Ri or B-C-D) and the four tones of the Yajur Veda to the penta-tonic scale in a descending order of the Sama Veda in its original form. Further developments through the six and seven tones took place in the later elaboration of the Sama scale adapted to the Indian lute or the Vina (Veene) and Indian musicology was systematised by Bharata in early centuries of the Christian era.

 

India is the country from which many ancient civilisations derived their music. The Sumerian “Bin” was derived from the Indian Vina. Strabo says that the Greek and Persian systems were influenced by India. The Greek musical instruments Kinyra, Kithara, Nabla and Kratala were derived from the Indian Kinnari, Chitra, Nakula and Karatala. A type of accompaniment in ancient Greece called Magadi singing was derived from the Magadhi song. The Syrians called their sacred hymns Sugita (the good song in Samkrt). The Chinese pentatonic scale and its later developments were due to the influence of Indian culture.

 

In Europe the Gregorian chant and polyphony were derived from the Indian system and the Guido de Arezzo adapted the method of the Sama Veda for memorising notes on the lines of fingers. Relics of polyphony are even now to be found in Java and Bali which have developed an orchestration for Indian music and dance.

To read the complete article, Click Here. 

CONQUESTS OF ŚÌLÁDITYA IN THE SOUTH by S. Srikanta Sastri

Mayùra, supposed to be the father-in-law of Bãņa, the biographer of Harşa Šìlãditya, is credited with the following stanza eulogising Šrì Harşa:-

Bhùpãlãh Šašibhaskarãnvayabhuvah ken am nãsãditãh |

Bhartãram punar ekameva hi bhuvastvãm deva manyã mahe |

Yenãńgam parimŗşya Kuntalamathãkŗşya vyudasyã yatam |

Colam prãpya ca madhyadešamadhunã Káncyām karah pātitah ||

 

Here reference is made to southern conquests of Harşa – Kuntala, Cola and Madhyadeśa and Kãñcì. 

To read the complete article, click here. 

'The Original Home of Jainism' by Dr. S. Srikanta Sastri

It has become customary to take granted the statements of certain historians that Jainism like Buddhism represents a reaction to the sacrificial cult of Vedic Aryans and in the case of Jainism many scholars are reluctant to take back the history of the faith before Parsva in about the 9th century B. C. Magadha which happened to be outside the pale of the Vedic sacrificial cults in the earliest times happened to be the birthplace of both Jainism and Buddhism and hence many have thought that these religions were perhaps of non-Aryan origin. Another theory is that there was at first a wave of non-Vedic but Aryan peoples who had spread all over Hindustan and that later on a new branch of the same Aryans but with Vedic cults, came and established themselves, driving out the earlier non-Vedic Aryans into Magadha, where Jainism and Buddhism arose. The Indus Civilization of C, 3000 – 2500 B. C. with its cults of nudity and yoga, the worship of the bull and other symbols has resemblances to Jainism and therefore the Indus Civilisation is supposed to be of non-Aryan or non-Vedic Aryan origin. The Protagonists of the non-Aryan theory are many and some of them call the civilisation definitely Dravidian.

I have shown in my “Proto-Indic Religion” that the so called non-Aryan characteristics are really those of Atharva-Veda civilization and that the Vedas themselves provide ample proofs of the worship of the Mother Goddess, the Bull, Serpent, Yoga etc. Therefore the Indus Civilization is post – Vedic and an admixture of many Tantric practices. It is impossible to assign a Dravidian origin to the Jaina and Buddhist religions as the Tirthankaras and Buddhas are clearly designated as Kshatriyas and Aryas.

​

To read full article, click here.