Chandradhar Sharma

Indian philosophy contains an immense number of traditions, works, arguments and counter-arguments, so no single introductory work can do full justice to this subject. A great obstacle for non-Indian students is that the vocabulary of Indian philosophy is very specialized and translations to English concepts are bound to be more or less erroneous. Authors of introductory books have to walk a fine line in mixing translated concepts with original concepts, too much of either will render the book incomprehensible.

Translation is the area where this book excels. Chandradhar Sharma's approach to translation is meticulous, consistent and effective. Concepts such as reality and cause are generally given in English, but always with the Sanskrit translation in parenthesis if the occasion requires it. More difficult concepts are often presented the other way around, with the approximate English translation in parenthesis. Highly important and specialized concepts, such as prakrti and purusa, are not translated but are explained in great detail. The clarity of this approach is admirable and the message is clear: there are some concepts which you need to learn from the Indian point of view in order to understand Indian philosophy.

However, although the philosophical translation is excellent, this is still not an easy book to read. It is littered with sentences like "Taking his stand on the Brhadaranyaka, the Chhandogya and the Manukya, Gaudapada identified the Unborn and Non-dual Absolute with the Atman or Brahman or Amatra or Turiya or Advaita which can be realized by Pure Knowledge or Asparshayoga or Vaisharadya or Amanibhava" (p. 248). Learning to understand Indian philosophy requires dedication, and so does this book. But for the dedicated student, this is an excellent resource for getting acquainted with this vast topic, above all with its vocabulary. The ideas might seem incomprehensible the first time around, but the next time you read a book on Indian philosophy you will probably have a vague sense of familiarity.

I do have one point of minor criticism also. I would have enjoyed some form of chronology and maybe brief philosopher biographies in this book, just to know in which centuries each philosopher and school of philosophy thrived and their social context. But on the other hand I appreciate the fact that the book is fairly short, and related information can of course easily be found from other sources such as Wikipedia with a little effort.… (meer)