The Hindu Religious Tradition. by Pratima Bowes; A Dictionary of Hinduism.

by Margaret
Stutley; James Stutley
Review by: Klaus Klostermaier
Pacific Affairs, Vol. 52, No. 2 (Summer, 1979), pp. 353-355
Published by: Pacific Affairs, University of British Columbia
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2757454 .
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 Book Reviews
The researchwas carriedout in Arunpur,a villagein thenorthern
stateofUttarPradesh,eightmilesfromtheurbancentreofBanaras.
The author opens with two chapterson the politics,the cycle of
economic activity,and the traditionalmode of conflictresolution
throughthe village council, the Panchayat. She then moves on to
examinechanges that have occurredas a resultof the expansionof
governmentadministrationunder the Constitutionof independent
India in whichpowersand authorityweregrantedto the traditional
Panchayatsto enable themto functionas agentsofself-government in
the village. The expansion of governmentadministrationand re-
sourcesintothevillagehas had two maineffects: it has reinforced
the
continuationof the traditionalconcentrationof power, and it has
aroused new formsofconflictresolutionwiththeintroduction ofnew
resources,therebywideningthe fieldofpoliticalactivities.
So thattheconnectionbetweencaste,kinand powermaybe better
understood,theauthorcontinueswitha comprehensive analysisofthe
networkof social relationswithinthe village. Specificexamples of
conflictwhichdid notescalate to thelevelofthevillage-widepolitical
arena followthroughthe use of case histories-conflictwithinthe
family,betweenfamilies,over marriage,competitionfora deceased
man's land, disputesoverthe ownershipof a pond. This leads the
authorto an illuminating chapteron the "Anatomyof Leadership."
The politicalarena is welldocumentedin thecontextoffactions,class
conflictand, of centralimportanceto village communitiesin many
tropicaland sub-tropicalcountries,the "politicsof water" to which
the authordevotesa wholechapter.Because ofthe greatdemand for
irrigation,water is perenniallyscarce and fiercepolitical activity
revolvesaround this resource.Finally,the authoranalyzes the I969
MidtermPoll to highlightthe processesof interactionin electoral
politics.
The book contains many interestingphotographstaken by the
authorherself,and is well indexed.It willbe a valuablebasic textfor
interdisciplinary teams of researchersconcernedwiththe politicsof
village societies,and should be widelyread by administrators and
their counterpartsinvolvedin developmentpolicy, planning,and
implementation.
Institute Economics
ofAgricultural
Oxford,England M.R. HASWELL

THE HINDU RELIGIOUS TRADITION. A PhilosophicalApproach.

By PratimaBowes. Londonand Lawrence,MA: Routledge& Kegan
Paul. 1977. 322 pp. $16.95.
A DICTIONARY OF HINDUISM. Its Mythology,Folklore and
Development, 1500 B.C.-A.D. I500. By Margaret and James

353

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 PacificAffairs
Stutley.
London: & KeganPaul(U.S.: Harper& Row,
Routledge
Newrork/Canada:
General
Publishing
Co.,DonMills,ON). 1977.
372 pp. ?I2.50. US$3o.oo.CA$4o.55.
To DEAL WITH HINDUISM as a wholewithinthe space provided
bya singlevolumeis no easytask,andevery reviewerwillbe prepared
to makesomeconcessions. a one-volume
By necessity, workon Hin-
duismmustreflectthe individualchoicesand preferences of the
authorand will be open to criticism by specialistsin sub-areas.
PratimaBowesqualifieshertreatment ofthe"HinduReligiousTra-
dition"bycallingit "a philosophical
approach."Herprevious pub-
licationsprovidethecredentialsforherphilosophicalexpertise,and
her growingup in India has provideda certainfamiliarity with
contemporary Hindulife.The workunderreviewis wellstructured
and attempts to deal withHinduismas a wholein a fairly original
way. Aftergoingintothe question"What is the Hindu Religious
Tradition?,"the detailsof thistraditionare dealtwithunderthe
headings of "Polytheism,""Non-Dualism," "Samkhya-Yoga Per-
fectionism," and "Devotionalism." Two philosophicalreflections
con-
clude the work: "Truth and the Hindu Religious Tradition,"and
"Moral and SpiritualValues in the Hindu Tradition."
There is no bibliography,however,and the few footnotesthat
adorn the book give only incompletereferencesto a verylimited
numberof sources-all of themEnglishtranslations.Citationsfrom
secondaryliteratureare few and equally incomplete.The styleis
rambling,and the treatmentunsystematic.Personal opinions and
prematurejudgmentsprevailwhereone hoped forinformation and
informeddiscussion.Under the heading "What is the Hindu Reli-
gious Tradition?"the readerexpectsat least a sketchyoutlineofthe
main phases of the Hindu tradition,some of its history,and some
information on majorrepresentativetexts.What we get,however,are
some privateideas about caste and the sacrednessofthe Veda, some
Vedic hymnsin Englishtranslation,a reference to the Bhagavadgltt
and a reference to the Bhagavatpurdnawithoutany historicalinfor-
mationwhatsoever.In short,the chaptersimplydoes not answerthe
questionit poses. Similarproblemsare encounteredin othersections
ofthe work.
The jacket descriptionof the second book underreviewtells us:
"JohnDowson's Classical DictionaryofHindu Mythologypublished
by Routledgein i89i has ever since been the authoritative
reference
workon Hinduism.Now Margaretand JamesStutleyhave produced
a modern work of similar magnitude,which is certainto be an
indispensabletool forstudentsof Hinduism,based as it is on the
authors'lifelongstudyand twentyyears' compilation.For all histo-
rians of religion,studentsof Indology,and thosewithan interestin

354

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 BookReviews
India and Hinduism,this is an invaluable work...." There is no
questionthatit is a handsomevolume.There is also no questionthat
Dowson's dictionarywas farfromperfectand one could do consid-
erably bettertoday. Nevertheless,this reviewerhas triedto use the
Stutleydictionaryforthe last couple of weeks, and in almost all
instancestheDowson dictionaryprovedbetter.Frequently,the Stut-
leys not only providedincompleteor questionableinformation but
were misleadingand positivelywrong.One getsthe impressionthat
the compilersare not familiarwithany Indian languagenor withthe
academic field of Indology.The articlesare patched togetherfrom
quotes takenfromsecondaryliterature.Wheresourcesdo not agree,
we geta juxtapositionofthe mostincongruousmaterials.Coverageis
uneven: for some items the compilershave provideda full-length
encyclopediaarticle (6 fullcolumns are devotedto "Asvamedha");
forotherswe are not even giventhe minimuminformation we need
In
("Bhartrihari"receivesonly 3/2 lines). addition, the dictionaryis
repletewitherrorsand wronginformation. (Abhinavaguta,according
to theStutleyvolume,livedin the 7thcentury,whilehe actuallylived
during the ioth and iith centuries;the Sarvadarsansamgrahaof
Mddhavdcdryais attributedto the 8th century,while the correct
periodis the i4thcentury;and so forth.)
A thoroughcriticalreviewofthisvolumewoulddemandalmostas
much space as the dictionaryitself.
ofManitoba
University KLAUS KLOSTERMAIER

THE END AND THE BEGINNING: PAKISTAN, i969-1971. ByHerbert

Feldman.
New rork:Oxford
University
Press.I978. 2IO pp. $14.50.
IN A COUNTRY where historyseems to repeat itselfwith dis-
tressingregularity,thelate HerbertFeldman'spoliticalhistoriespro-
videvaluableinsightsintothepresentas wellas thepast.This volume
focussesupon "Yahya Khan's administration and the eventswhich
culminatedin the dissolutionof the old Pakistan" (p. I.). It is both
shorterand narrowerin scope than his earlierRevolution in Pakistan
(I967, coveringtheperiod 1958-I962) and FromCrisistoCrisis:Pakistan
I962-I969 (1972).
The titleofthisworkis a bitmisleading,sinceitsemphasisis much
moreon the end of the old Pakistanthan upon the beginningof the
new-to which only the last three or fourpages are devoted. It
therefore coversmuch the same ground as G.W. Choudhury'sLast
DaysofUnited Pakistan
and otherworkson theBangladeshWar and its
immediatebackground.But Feldmanis characteristically thoroughin
his detailand stimulating
in his criticismand speculationas he traces
politicaldevelopmentsfromAyub Khan's resignationin March i969

355

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