Author: Monier Williams
Publisher: Rupa
Year: 2001
Language: English
Pages: 634
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8171676081
Description
When the Britishers came to India, apart from economic and administrative interest, there was felt an increasing interest in Indian culture and literature which led to a demand for such as is presented here, Indian Wisdom.
Is it possible to obtain from any one book a good general idea of the character and contents of Sanskrit literature and philosophy? It is to address this need that Monier Williams undertook the daunting task of collecting in one volume the essentials of Indian philosophy. India Wisdom covers extensive ground from expositions on the Vedas, the Upanishads, Buddhism and Jainism to the other major systems of Indian philosophy: The Nyaya, Sankhya and the Mimamsa systems. The Smriti and Shruti sutras, the Law book of Manu, the epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata, with a special focus on the Gita, the Puranas, Tantras, Niti Shastras, fables of the Panchatantra and the Hitodpesha are all covered extensively and intensively.
The grand sweep of the book therefore makes it possible for any student, lay or serious, of Indian philosophy and religion, to find almost its entire range in this one volume.
Contents
Introduction
LECTURE I
The Hymns of the Veda
LECTURE II
The Brahmanas and Upanishads
The Upanishads
LECTURE III
The Systems of Philosophy
Buddhism
LECTURE IV
The Nyaya
The Vaiseshika
LECTURE V
The Sankhya
The Yoga
LECTURE VI
The Purva-mimansa and Vedantra
The Vedanta
LECTURE VII
Irregular Systems and Eclectic School
Jainism
The Charvakas
The Eclectic School Represented by the Bhagavad-gita
LECTURE VIII
Smriti - The Vedangas
I. The Vedangas
LECTURE IX
II. The Smarta Sutra of Traditional Rules
III. The Dharma-sastras or Law-books-Manu
LECTURE X
The Dharma-Shastras or Law-books - Manu
LECTURE XI
The Law-Manu continued
Achara, 'rules of conduct'
Duties of Women and Wives
Vyavahara, 'rules of government and judicature'
Prayas-chitta, 'penance and expiation'
karma-phala, 'recompenses of acts'
The Code of Yajnavalkya
The eighteen principal Codes posterior to Manu and Yajnavalkya
The Five Schools of Hindu Law
LECTURE XII
IV. The Itihasas or Epic Poems - The Ramayana
The Ramayana
LECTURE XIII
The Itihasas or Epic Poems - The Mahabharata
LECTURE XIV
The Indian Epics compared with each other and with the Homeric Poems
LACTURE XV
The Artificial Poems. Dramas. Puranas. Tantras. Niti-shastras
The Artificial Poems
The Dramas
V. The Puranas
The Tantras
VI. The Niti-sastras
The Two-headed Weaver
Index