Author: Raja Rao
Publisher: Vision/Orient paperbacks
Year: 2003
Language: English
Pages: 204
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8170945542
Description
India is not a country, writes Raja Rao. It is a perspective. And this book explores the perspective that he calls India - its metaphysics, the philosophical underpinnings that sets India apart, uniquely distinguishes its civilization.
Through fable and real-life encounters, descriptions of journeys and events, or in discussions with contemporaries, Raja Rao’s quest is unceasing and single-focused: how this perspective alone can give meaning to man’s daily action. He draws on a wide range of sources, including the Vedas, Upanishads, teachings of Sankara, the writings of Bhartrihari, and the poetry of Valery and Mallarme. There are essays that describe his meetings with Gandhi and Nehru, so too with Forester and Malraux, westerners who drew close to India.
This book grew over several decades during which Raja Rao created his unique body of diction. His readers are familiar with the philosophical quest which runs through his novels and stories. The meaning of India paints and details the essential meta-physical backdrop of his acclaimed writing. Written in rhythmic, sparkling style which Raja Rao has made his own since Kanthapura, both simple and eclectic, expansive and precise, this book holds that India’s civilization and meaning can only be known by understanding the truth about one’s won existence- and that of the world.
The meaning, as Raja Rao puts it, is not question of success or defeat, but abolition of contradiction of duality.
REVIEW
A wonderfully engaging and stimulating book, most important, a portent for our age.
-Indian Review of Books
Contents
INTRODUCTION
PART I
THE MEANING OF INDIA
The Meaning of India
India - A Fable
My First Meeting with Pandit Jawaharlal
When Malraux Meets Jawaharlal Nehru
Mahatma Gandhi Saint or Politician
The Silence of Mahatma Gandhi
Wisdom and Power
A Marriage of Necessity
Forster, the Wise Man of England
The Kumkum Mark
Andre Malraux Among
The Gods of India
PART II
THE MEANING,-IN MEANING
On Understanding
In Search of-My Bride
The Shy Bride
The Writer and the Word
Words of Acceptance
The Ultimate Word
Look, The Universe is Burning!
APPENDIX
FOREWORD TO KANTHAPURA
NOTES
END NOTES
INDEX