The descent of the sun : a cycle of birth & The Sánkhya Aphorisms of Kapila
Book Details
Author(s)Kapila, F.W. Bain
ISBN / ASINB007FFJI3I
ISBN-13978B007FFJI36
MarketplaceCanada 🇨🇦
Description
The descent of the sun : a cycle of birth
Author: F.W. Bain
The Indian Stories of Francis William Bain were published early in the 20th century. They purport to be translations of unidentified manuscripts. However, these books are not directly derived from Hindu texts or traditions. Bain was eventually unveiled as a writer of orientalist fantasies, but by that time he had a loyal readership who could care less. He continued to press on with the series until there were thirteen volumes. This is thus a harmless literary hoax on a par with Bilitis. Which is not to say that these books don't have their charm, particularly if you like early fantasy writers, such as William Morris or Lord Dunsany. Just don't use them as sources for information about Hindu mythology.
The Sánkhya Aphorisms of Kapila
Author:Kapila
Translated by James R. Ballantyne
THE great body of Hindu Philosophy is based upon six sets of very concise Aphorisms. Without a commentary, the Aphorisms are scarcely intelligible; they being designed, not so much to communicate the doctrine of the particular school, as to aid, by the briefest possible suggestions, the memory of him to whom the doctrine shall have been already communicated. To this end they are admirably adapted; and, this being their end, the obscurity which must needs attach to them, in the eyes of the uninstructed, is not chargeable upon them as a fault.
For various reasons it is desirable that there should be an accurate translation of the Aphorisms, with so much of gloss as may be required to render them intelligible. A class of pandits in the Benares Sanskrit College having been induced to learn English, it is contemplated that a version of the Aphorisms, brought out in successive portions, shall be submitted to the criticism of these men, and, through them, of other learned Bráhmans, so that any errors in the version may have the best chance of being discovered and rectified. The employment of such a version as a class-book is designed to subserve, further, the attempt to determine accurately the aspect of the philosophical terminology of the East, as regards that of the West.
These pages, now submitted to the criticism of the pandits who read English, are to be regarded as proof-sheets awaiting correction. They invite discussion.(J. R. B.)
Author: F.W. Bain
The Indian Stories of Francis William Bain were published early in the 20th century. They purport to be translations of unidentified manuscripts. However, these books are not directly derived from Hindu texts or traditions. Bain was eventually unveiled as a writer of orientalist fantasies, but by that time he had a loyal readership who could care less. He continued to press on with the series until there were thirteen volumes. This is thus a harmless literary hoax on a par with Bilitis. Which is not to say that these books don't have their charm, particularly if you like early fantasy writers, such as William Morris or Lord Dunsany. Just don't use them as sources for information about Hindu mythology.
The Sánkhya Aphorisms of Kapila
Author:Kapila
Translated by James R. Ballantyne
THE great body of Hindu Philosophy is based upon six sets of very concise Aphorisms. Without a commentary, the Aphorisms are scarcely intelligible; they being designed, not so much to communicate the doctrine of the particular school, as to aid, by the briefest possible suggestions, the memory of him to whom the doctrine shall have been already communicated. To this end they are admirably adapted; and, this being their end, the obscurity which must needs attach to them, in the eyes of the uninstructed, is not chargeable upon them as a fault.
For various reasons it is desirable that there should be an accurate translation of the Aphorisms, with so much of gloss as may be required to render them intelligible. A class of pandits in the Benares Sanskrit College having been induced to learn English, it is contemplated that a version of the Aphorisms, brought out in successive portions, shall be submitted to the criticism of these men, and, through them, of other learned Bráhmans, so that any errors in the version may have the best chance of being discovered and rectified. The employment of such a version as a class-book is designed to subserve, further, the attempt to determine accurately the aspect of the philosophical terminology of the East, as regards that of the West.
These pages, now submitted to the criticism of the pandits who read English, are to be regarded as proof-sheets awaiting correction. They invite discussion.(J. R. B.)
