New-York tribune., 1908-06-14


Even if the legends of India's great epics were
ralu.leSs literature. they would still merit
translation in popular form. They the very
mind and heart of the India of yesterday. to-day
and-alast-to-morrow. Sir George Birdwood,
the distinguished student of Indian arts. only
EXPRESSED the opinion Of every authority on
Indian matters when he maintained that people
cannot properly understand the art architecture
politics. philosophy. customs sentiments of the
modern Hindu without some knowledge of the
"Ramayana~ and the "Mahabharata,~ the two
sacred poems which have dominated the lani
for twenty-five centuries or longer. in their
l-,.-el.t written form. and for unknown ages
earle village tales. Miss Macdonald, in in
II. .l.eins her readers to the Ramayana legends
.s.s an apt illustration Of the confusons beset-
tins the Western student who attempts TO in
t,Iret Hindu beliefs practices without sui
staurlal knowledge Of the language and ideas
used throughout The Iliad Of the East" Speak
ing a.. the rninformed Christians frequent en-
d,svor 10 criticise Buddhism, she says:
sa.n a reade~ viii inevitably come away with
N feT t.ii nFereSiing bE its inferiority
second. that only wllful dlsingenueusness or
S-u.s otst macy account for the affirnations
of -..es who describe Buddhism an intellectual
L. --.t lnIze the position of the practical Western
rtaI.r who Is asked to recognize the founder Of
d Ta- religion Of the intellect in parsonage wh1
l. START with enters his mothers side as fine
tcTll AMI with an aDIlOrlila Ca
i.>z-, What is such a reader to think Of the hon
oS,y uf critics who affirm that no supernatural
7,s, apparent contradictions present real diff
cu-es 10 u initiated student Such an attentive
reader f.s traced The development and transforma
lion = sentiments into thoughts and Of traditional
5er M relatiorlship Buddhas spiritual doctrine
Rs H. -l.e ancient Legends myths which form
. i natural and necessary part Of its environment
\ fr Whit elephants with five tus1s, ana IRE
...~ infants VINO preach their elders immedi-
afte- their birth, the initiated explorer knows
q -. make Of them Ihey are 1 II.e con-
H.. INDIAN renlIle-cutside adornmentS winch SHOW
locality whore the temple Is reared but that DO
ns- reveal the character cf the shrine interpret
IT,, -1.-.t 4 n worship that Is going on within
He who would read the curiously wrought
ta.te oC Talruiki must constantly bear in mind
rfs- - prodigies and fantasies OF which the
Story rGler speaks but the language OF a
primitive people who, perhaps for a million
v,.~s mad been struggling helplessly on a
e,,.-atfre plain where madness comes al mid
dav and the tiger and the typhoon at night
NJ ure was Z cruel junlble OF merciless powers.
ar5 nc man could winnow out the chaf of
Deans from the substance Of fact When after
wear ages. il finally became clear that all
things seen and heard are Maya, OF Illusion, and
that the mind Of man can know the truth only
l irt 4 reasoning. il was too late 10 slough OF
III words. phrases and concepts OF uncritlcal
ancestors Just as il is impossible for modern
Vae-arr scientists 10 escape crude popular
metaphors in describing new facts. The legends
of Talr--+zi therefore. are highly figuratVe and
poetic 5.1 they are not strictly escteric. Their
arego~i.s are an innocent gauZy dress for NOR
alizrc and sentimentality. As Miss Macdonald
notes the Occidental idealist quickly finds him
s4lf u nome in this old Indian poetry; his
imagination is actually more at home in il than
. in TIN eerl-ir mental atmosphere OF medieval ro-
nance We may say even more than this: in
grite q enormous external differences, the
underlying thoughts OF the Ramayana are IN
sg- --l. harmony with all these varieties Of mod
en- hurrarisrn which here snatched their ilre-
brands 80 inspiration from the affairs Of science
auG scientific morality. This harmony is not
Unison II * a consonance Of different notes,
- netler - which can. 10y any skill of logic, be
reduced T. the other For East i East ana
West is West" But whoever responds TO one
note cal respond to the other sympathetIcSIIy
as the stories here recounted viii show IN
the adventures q the perfect hero, Rama MISS
Nacdora.E SAYS We have the p"etcal lhtef-
Isetatior 4 life" in which human existence"
despite .rs supposed illusory nature, is con-
leHp.ateG without grief and without disgust
row teuEa-rr now humorously, now seriously,
but alHaEs from lofty moral plane
This volume contains nineteen tales from the
i@a--aya-a. al chosen with q view 10 bringing
o-t -he romantic character Of the work. We
are frs told hosg Tal1niki, the narrator received
! ts gtst a. Toeey o. a reward for the tears "f