Ancestral Voices: Reflections on Vedic, Classical and Bhakti Poetry by Ramesh Chandra Shah - 2006

Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 2006. Softcover. New. This is an extraordinary attempt to record and recover the long-neglected `ancestral voices` of Indian civilisation. The publication and subsequent reprinting of our civilisation ally significant Lectures that Shah delivered at Temenos Academy, London in 1998, in the form of the book, is a welcome addition to the shortlist of titles that sincerely explore the meaning of India e.g., Sri Aurobindo`s The Foundation of Indian Culture, Coomaraswamy`s The Dance of Shiva, Raja Rao`s The Meaning of India and Partha Chatterjee`s Nation and its Fragments. In the first chapter, Shah underlines the Relationship between literature (art) and truth. Affirming the Vedic vision that all literary works of imagination emanate from `Vac`, which he interprets not merely as the tool of communication, butas the primordial mystery, combining in herself three worlds ofTinie: past, present and future and revealing itself only to those who are worthy to receive her. In the second and third chapters, Shah reads the epics and other Poems in the Context of textualising truth, self, World and cosmic order or Rta. He describes how the notions of truth as rasa and beauty unfold themselves in theory and practice. Texts as diverse as Bhagavatpurana, Yogavasistha, Ramc`aritmanasa and the songs of the siddhas and saints exemplify this Integrated co-existence and co-operation of beauty and truth. He highlights the relevance of the amazing Wealth of perennially usable critical concepts evolved by Indian aestheticians. The fourth lecture presents a sensitive reading of the pan-Indian Bhakti movement, tracing its sources to the Vedas, the two epics and the Bhagavatpurana - its Protestant character notwithstanding. Printed Pages: 87.