The Hindu Tradition: Readings in Oriental Thought [Mass Market Paperback]

Ainslie T. Embree (Editor), William Theodore de Bary (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0394717023 | ISBN-13: 978-0394717029 | Publication Date: January 12, 1972

This book, compiled from basic Hindu writings, is an exploration of the essential meaning of the Hindu tradition, the way of thinking and acting that has dominated life in India for the last three thousand years. Selections from religious, literary and philosophic works are preceded by introductory material that summarizes historical developments and cultural movements. While much attention is given to religion, many selections deal with social life, political relationships, and the Indian attitude to human love and passion. The arrangement of the material suggests the growth and development of Indian life through the centuries, and makes clear that Indian culture has never been static, but rather has been characterized at all times by a remarkable vitality and creativity.

The selections range in time from the Rig Veda, composed around 1000 B.C., to the writings of Radhakrishnan, formerly the President of India. They illustrate both the continuity of the Hindu tradition and its vitality, for Hinduism is probably more vibrant and alive at the present time than it has been for many centuries. The ideals and values, the unquestioned assumptions and the persistent doubts that are presented here from the literature of the past are the fundamental ingredients of the life of modern India.

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This book, compiled from basic Hindu writings, is an exploration of the essential meaning of the Hindu tradition, the way of thinking and acting that has dominated life in India for the last three thousand years. Selections from religious, literary and philosophic works are preceded by introductory material that summarizes historical developments and cultural movements. While much attention is given to religion, many selections deal with social life, political relationships, and the Indian attitude to human love and passion. The arrangement of the material suggests the growth and development of Indian life through the centuries, and makes clear that Indian culture has never been static, but rather has been characterized at all times by a remarkable vitality and creativity.

The selections range in time from the Rig Veda, composed around 1000 B.C., to the writings of Radhakrishnan, formerly the President of India. They illustrate both the continuity of the Hindu tradition and its vitality, for Hinduism is probably more vibrant and alive at the present time than it has been for many centuries. The ideals and values, the unquestioned assumptions and the persistent doubts that are presented here from the literature of the past are the fundamental ingredients of the life of modern India.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (January 12, 1972)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394717023
• ISBN-13: 978-0394717029
• Product Dimensions: 4.1 x 0.7 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #138,459 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Still a Classic Compendium of Primary Sources, September 13, 2005

By 

James W. Hoover III (Salem, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Hindu Tradition: Readings in Oriental Thought (Mass Market Paperback)

Although this work first came out in 1972 (and still bears the unfortunate word "Oriental" in the subtitle, which is very misleading for a book about South Asia), it retains its relevance and usefulness, especially if you are seeking a book to accompany a course on ancient and medieval India. As a professor of South Asian history, I have used this work several times in the first half of a two-part survey of Indian history, and my students have found it comprehensible, readable, and very useful for writing papers. It contains well-selected excerpts from most of the major texts you are likely to discuss in a survey course: the Vedas, the Dharmashastras, the Arthashastra, Kama Sutra, Bhagavad Gita, and so forth - right through to the Mughal period. Unlike a lot of recently-published "document readers," it is not a compendium of obscure and unusable primary sources which were selected only because they were available without copyright restrictions! No, every page of this inexpensive little gem of a book is pedagogically useful, and students will find that Indian terms used in it are clearly and carefully defined. Praises given, there are a few drawbacks to this book, apart from the unfortunate title: it represents the elite Hindu tradition almost exclusively, and it fails to integrate in any clear fashion the Islamic tradition that played such a major role in shaping the "Hindu" tradition of South Asia after about 1100 CE. A new edition of this work, properly edited, would be a fantastic addition to the field of South Asian Studies and History, which currently suffers from a plethora of recently-published general histories, most of which are terribly dry, poorly-organized, badly-edited, hastily-knocked off volumes, some riddled with factual errors, that will have your students in a state of mutiny in no time. Embree and Bary are old masters of the field, and this particular book if one of their greatest achievements.