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Mark Twain’s description of
India as a "Land of dreams and romance. The country of a
hundred nations and a hundred tongues, of a thousand religions
and two million gods, cradle of human race, birthplace of human
speech, mother of history, grand mother of legend, great grand
mother of tradition…" throws a serious challenge to any
researcher.
The bright side of
Buck’s document is that it does have some definitive
information on pre-Aryan tribes or the aboriginals who were
Tartarians, Tibetans, Dravidians, Gonds, Korkus, Bhils, Santhals,
Kols, Khasias, Garos, Puliyars, Nairs and Gurkhas. Here and
there, the author has made comparisons with the Greeks, Romans,
Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians and Iranians when it comes to
gods, goddesses and godlings; rites and rituals, as also certain
practices of congregations, assemblies that have a near similar
explanation in character and form to Indian festivals.
Chapters on
Hinduism touch upon the epics, caste system ceremonies of
marriage, birth and death. Hindu sects, fairs and festivals have
been described in a nearsighted idiom, yet it becomes obvious
that the author falls back for his stuff largely on faiths and
practices as were/are prevalent in South India. The demon-king
Bali has really fascinated the author.
The advent in
India of Buddhism, Jainism, Islam, and Sikhism has found a
cursory treatment in the book and practically, except for
tracing the legends to the origin of these religions, the book
says nothing on the Bhakti Movement, Nirgun Bhakti and
progression of the Arya Samaj Movement, besides a host others,
which largely affected the social, cultural, and religious
ethos, hitherto fore entrenched and influenced by the hardcore
Hindu predominance of Brahammanical karam-kands which
were mainly instrumental in weaning away their believers to the
folds of other religions.
The book does not
practically offer anything on the god-men of India, who have
predominantly guided lifestyles of their devotees in the modern
times, like the Osho, Sai Baba, etc. Sects and cults like Radha
Soami, Nirankaris, etc., as also the ones propounded by the
Sufis saints have not caught the attention of the author. In the
diverse Indian context, they are of equal import.
Chapters on
Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism and Zoroastrianism appear to be just
fillers since they give out insufficient details, save only, of
the propounders’ ascendance to the realm of general
recognition bordering on veneration and the ultimate, full-blown
evolution of a faith or religion in their present form.
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