Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-06-07
THE LIBRARY TABLE
By the Bookioper

A poetic, mystical India, not an India
of superstition and lack of hygiene, is
seen by Dian Gopal Mukerji, who when
he wrote visit India With Me" I'M
doubtedly had in mind katherine Mayo's
Mother India" Mr.. MukerJi, himself
Hindu. imagines an American friend
travelling with him in INDIA very
appreciative and susceptible American,
who is willing to be led gently away
from unpleasant sights and odors. The
author calls his preface Mote OF
Warning" and in it gives his three
fold purpose in writing the book. He
says First of all. my aim is to guide
the reader to the major works of Indian
art. that he should perceive in them
the same symbolism as we do.
Next, I have done my utmost to paint
a portrait of the contemporary life of
nv country In order to do that have
taken advantage of the selective methods
of the artist. Lastly, l have not sought
to refute or uphold any point of view
about India, but to show what a single
visit reveals to traveller eager to learn
of those truths that underlie the surface
of our existence"
The views of his neighbors in his old
home which Mr.. Mukerji visited, on
the subject of America, lead him to
philosophize on the unfairness of judg-
ing a nation specifically "Neighbors
came to see me and asked many ques-
tions about America. The majority of
them had seen American films and
wondered if in America women were
continually divorcing their husbands
and husbands shooting one another.
When I told them that these things
are seen only in the movies, and not in
real life, they were amazed They could
not believe that 1 was telling the truth,
I recounted some extraordinary stories
of the integrity and moral beauty OF
America. The burden of my speech was
this: Every nation dwells in two
places-in the market place and in the
home. You should not judge a nation
by its market place. Foreigners are
likely to see the market place of every
country they visit and sometimes they
make the mistake of picturing the home
life of that country in terms of the
bazaar They should bear in mind that
the home is run on different principles.
Buying and selling has its rules, but
love of father and son, mother and
daughter, husband and wife, has its
rule too. It is a grave mistake to judge
the home life of nation in other terms
than its own inner spirit" He adds:
There are Americans and Americans.
There are Hindus and Hindus. Never
confuse the sheep with the goats any
where" Everywhere Mr.. Mukerji found
that the American movie was forming
the ideas of native Hindus and Moham-
medans. A Hindu priest said to him:
"Oh, / know all about that country!
We see shadow pictures here. The
houses are tall and people all shoot
each other" The suppoSitious Amer
lean friend comments. When I reach
home / am going to tell people not to
send so many bad pictures to India
g.. Why can't we send decent ones
that will give people the idea that
America is a country of moral men and
women? No good has come of these
movies. anyway"
In one chapter Mr.. Mukerji intro
duceS his brother, DR.. Jadu Mukerji
"a hot patriot" who at one time made
truce with the British government
but was later arrested and imprisoned
without trial" DR.. Mukerji is de-
scribed as "all sweetness and apathy
He is sweet towards every one he
illCcbot puI 4ull u APATHY COWdI Us ulIIl-
self. A genuine pagan of the stole
school. Nothing Christian about him
He has no notion of the redemption
of man by suffering Though he has
suffered much, yet he finds no mean
ing in it." The controversy between
Great Britain. and India was stated
simply by DR.. Mukerji las for the
British they desire to protect
their Indian empire. We, like the
Ganges in flood, seek to wash the
empire clean. Until our blood is split
daticn of British rule. We, the
Nationalist, should stand behind
Gandhi and make holocaust of our
selves. Even if we are beaten, it will
cleanse India of cowardice." Asked
what would be the gain if the British
were driven out of India, DR.. Mukerji
pondered and replied: What economic
gains will accrue from it 1 care not
to think of. But the spiritual gain
cowardice, and the British will be freed
from their fetish of superiority. Cow
ardice ard arrogance are eating the
souls of India and England Those
two flendS should be exercised, no mat
ter how" Having lived long in the
United States and having acquired
some of the American sense of the
practical, Mr.. Mukerji raised the i'm
portant political question which his
brother, in his interest in the spiritual
ignored, namely, "how to unite the
Hindus with the Mohammedans For
without solid unity between half the
Mohammedans, say thirty millions of
them, and fifty millions of Hindus,
India cannot put up sustained nom
resistance to the strongest empire in
the world. Without that unity India
can be beaten as easily as a child can
be chastised by prizefghter That
the problem of India is one Of dis
unity no true patriot can overlook"
X X r.
A general outline of human knowl-
edge, not too superficial, during the
period 1543-1687. is contained in the
volume, "A History of Modern Culture
Vol. I, by Preserved Smith. professor of
history in Cornell University The four
parts of the volume are entitled 1.-THE
Sciences" THE Humanities" Social
Control and THE Spirit of the Times"
The progress of the sciences of astron-
only physics, mathematics, geography
biology and anatomy is traced from the
revolutionary work Of Copernicus, ION
the Revolutions of the Heavenly Orbs"
d543), through the discoveries of the
Dutch Leeuwenhoek with his micro
scope about 1880, which led him to dis
credit the doctrine of spontaneous gen.
Grafton and to begin to understand the
cell structure of animal substances anc
the germ origin of life. The human
tiles" include philosophy, political
theory, historiography and biblical and
classical scholarship. Education, re-
ligion and laws are named as forces of
social control; and the way in which
they have operated through schools
universities and libraries, churches, re-
ligious orders and religious leaders, and
law-making bodies, is studied. Some of
the interesting subjects discussed under
Social Control" are the beginnings of
col11pulS0rv education education for