Sambodhi 1982 Vol 11

SR No.: 520761
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Dalsukh Malvania, H C Bhayani, Nagin J Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 1982
Total Pages: 502
Language: English, Sanskrit, Prakrit, Gujarati
Classification: Magazine, India_Sambodhi, & India
File Size: 11 MB

Page 242

Review
references to text-places quoted or disessed. Appendix 3 is a list of references to the Balinese collection of hymns 'Stuti and stava' in the body of this book. Then we find the Bibliography which is an extensive one and incorporates the abbreviations used; and finally there is the Index which every good book shouli necessarily have.
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Maya Divine and Human is a valuable work neatly planned and full of information regarding magical practices from the original Sanskrit sources including the Vedic ones, and also from the works of modern authors on the.subject. The author's main aim was to elucidate the 1 Ślokas of the Mahama, a fragment and it is creditable that a structure of 516 pages has been built up, or rather has evolved round this small nucleus. The main idea is to show that the supranormal powers of human practi tioners has been ultimately derived from and shaped after the form of divine examples revealed in mythology.
Though much has been written about magic and its difference from religion, not much has been written on the magical acts as they are found prescribed and recorded in ancient Indian literature. This work is, therefore, all the more useful on this account, especially because alongside this it introduces us to Balinese Sanskrit literature in the context of the Maha may fragment.
Nevertheless, on reading the book one gathers the impression that every uncommon act of a god or a warrior has been interpreted in terms of magic, especially so in relation to the Vedic mantras and the gods worshipped therein, though a cifferent and a more rational meaning would have been more justifiable. Granted that there is a very fine line dividing religion and magic and that there is much overlapping, yet faith and beseeching the grace of the deity worshipped are predominently present in religious practices, whereas the sense of compulsion and mystery are predominant in magical performances and this should not be overlooked.
Krsna is described as a great magician even when the cowherdesses feel attracted to him (see p. 25). If this be regarded as a display of the magical power of akarsaṇa, it would certainly appear jarring to the Indian mind, especially when the lovable personality of Kṛṣṇa is attampted to be stressed and the emphasis is on the doctrine of complete loving surrender to God. And Krsna of the Bhāgavata Purana and Krsna of the Mahabharata cannot be spoken of in the same breath. The difference of spirit and emphasis so apparent in the Vedic, the epic, the Puranic texts and the Tanrtic texts should have been constantly borne in mind, though they
Sambodhi XI-30