Spiritual Authority and Temporal Power in the Indian Theory of Government [Hardcover]

Ananda K. Coomaraswamy (Author), Keshvaram N. Iengar (Editor), Rama Poonambulam Coomaraswamy (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 3, 1994

In this revised edition of one of Coomaraswamy's most significant writings, the Indian theory of government is expounded on the basis of the textual sources, mainly of the Brahmanas and the Rgveda. The "marriage formula" in the Aitareya Brahmana ("I am that, thou art this, I am sky, thou art Earth"), spells out the relation between the Spiritual and the temporal power. This "marriage formula" has its analogous applications in the cosmic, political, family and individual spheres of operation, in each by the conjunction of complementary agencies.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 140 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; Revised edition (February 3, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195631439
• ISBN-13: 978-0195631432
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.3 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,993,539 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

ANANDA K. COOMARASWAMY was born in 1877, of Anglo-Ceylonese parents. After completing studies in Geology he soon became interested in the arts and crafts of his native Ceylon and India. In 1917 he relocated to the USA where he became Keeper of Indian and Islamic Art at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, establishing a large collection of Oriental artifacts and presenting lectures on their symbolic and metaphysical meaning. An encounter with the seminal writings of perennialist author René Guénon served to confirm and strengthen his view of the Perennial Philosophy. From this period onwards Dr. Coomaraswamy began to compose his mature--and undoubtedly most profound--works, adeptly expounding the philosophia perennis by drawing on his unparalleled knowledge of the arts, crafts, mythologies, cultures, folklores, symbolisms, and religions of the Orient and the Occident. In 1947 his plans to retire to India and take on sannyasa (renunciation of the world) were cut short by his sudden and untimely death. A representative collection of his extensive writings, entitled The Essential Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, was edited by his son Rama P. Coomaraswamy and published by World Wisdom.