Prajñāloka. Journal of the Nāgārjuna Buddhist FoundationReview by: Ludwik SternbachJournal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 101, No. 4 (Oct. - Dec., 1981), p. 481Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/601318 .

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BRIEF REVIEWS 481

The Mahdbhdrata. A Literary Study. By J. P. SINHA. Pp. xii +

128. With a Preface by K. A. Subramania Iyer. New Delhi: MEHARCHAND LACHMANDAS. 1977. Rs. 30.00.

This publication is a study of the Mahabharata from the literary point of view. The author considers the epic as a mahakavya and sastra mingled together (p. 7). He deals in particular with the versification of the Mahabharata and shows what metres were used in each parvan and very rightly underlies that the upajdti-metre is not the classical upaj]ti- metre (as many so-called epic metres), but a mixture of 11 and 12 syllables to a pada metre (pp. 1 1-12); he then analyzes the Mahabharata from the point of view of the figure "of sounds" and of "sense" and gives ample examples of anuprasas, upamds (mdlopamds, prativastapamds alamkdras, rapakas, sarigariipakas, nidar.sanas, si'ahhaxoktis, sentiments of love, pathos, etc., included in the Mahabharata. Afterwards he deals with vakrokti and idnta (in analyzing the Mahabharata he takes into consideration, in particular, the results of the studies by Kuntaka in his Vakroktijivita and by Bhattana- yaka), as well as the style of the epic and points out that the poet, who composed the appropriate portions of the Maha- bharata, incorporated into the text proverbs (proverbial expressions and wise sayings) and made use of the satire with an extraordinary skill.

Each of the findings are illustrated by examples chosen by him from the entire epic; this enhances the value of his study. In the last, but one, chapter of his book, entitled "Some appreciative Tit-bits," the author gives excellent examples of Mahabharata's poetry.

Though many books have been written on the Mahabha- rata, this one is scholarly, and at the time attractive and easy to read and to digest. J. P. Sinha should be wholeheartedly congratulated for his latest work studied from the point of view of different schools of Sanskrit poetics, viz., Alamkara- vada, Vakroktivada, Ritivada and Rasadhvanivada. J. P. Sinha has proved that he is a skillful and subtle literary critic of Sanskrit literature.

LUDWIK STERNBACH

PARIS

Yoga of the Guhyasamajatantra. The Arcane Lore of Forty Verses. A Buddhist Tantra Commentary. By ALEX

WAYMAN. Pp. xii + 389. Delhi/VaranasT/Patna: MOTILAL

BANARSIDASS. 1977. Rs. 100.00.

The book is introduced as one which opens up the subject of perhaps the most profound of Buddhist Tantras, the Guhyasamajatantra, by shedding light on its relation with previous literature including the Brahmanical tradition and by revealing the elevated type of Yoga. It goes far toward

replacing the previous supposition that this Tantra can be understood by the mere reading by one oblivious of the extensive commentarial tradition that incorporates the pre- cepts of the gurus.

The author has used the edited Sanskrit texts, the Pradipod- dyotana MS., the relevant texts translated into Tibetan in the Tanjur and Kanjur and thirteen Tibetan works on the Tantra by Tsong-kha-pa, founder of the Golugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism. First, he presents the forty Nidana verses that were quoted in Sanskrit in the Pradipoddyotana and chapters six and twelve of the basic Tantra with some commentaries. Then, he explains the Tantra by various introductions includ- ing the translation of the Guhyasamaja Aksobhyamandala, followed by a commentary on the Nidana verses that go with the first 40 syllables of the Tantra. The four appendices deal with the Laikavatdrasiitra and the Guhyasamrjatantra; the Arcane-Body Controversy; the praxis according to Aryadeva; and the grading of the Four-stage Yoga. They are followed by an exhaustive bibliography and useful index, including an index to the nidana-kdrikas and the Guhyasamajatantra.

LUDWIK STERNBACH

PARIS

Prajfldloka. Journal of the Ndgdrjuna Buddhist Foundation. A Quarterly devoted to Indology and Buddhism. Special Inaugural Number. January-April 1979.

The Nagarjuna Buddhist Foundation at Gorakhpur, under the chairmanship of the well known Buddhologue, Professor P. V. Bapat, has started the publication of a new Journal to promote and foster indological studies in general, and Bud- dhist studies, in particular. The Foundation has also estab- lished a Research and Manuscript library and an art- collection, a Buddhist tourist centre and a Yoga centre in Gorakhpur. The inaugural issue of the Journal contains articles on Buddhism and indological studies, in particular on Buddhism as a world religion (by N. A. Shastri); Karma and Rebirth (by Acarya Buddhatakkhita), on sacrifices in Pali literature (by P. V. Bapat), on nihilism and advaitism (by H. Narain), on the Dhammapada (by L. M. Joshi), on Tantric Buddhism (by K. Shukla), on Nagarjuna (by J. G. Mishra), on the Goddess Usnisavijaya (by Lokesh Chandra), on an unknown Sanskrit poet Malatlimadhava (by L. Stern- bach) and other learned studies written in English and Hindi, as well as some book-reviews. The Journal is a useful addition to Buddhistic and Indological studies; every buddhologue and every indologue will wish to have it in his library.

LUDWIK STERNBACH

PARIS

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