Book Reviews

Author(s): J W De Jong
Publisher: J W De Jong

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146
REVIEWS
On p. 101, Ditte König mentions that the Muria believe that a man becomes a tiger by circumambulating an ant-hill seven times. H.-J. Pinnow has translated a Kharia legend in which a king becomes a tiger by rubbing his body against a termite hill.2
A few corrections are necessary. The Meghadūta is not a drama (cf. p. 91). Read Kalpadrumakośa for Kalpadrukosa (p. 282). JHA, Ganganatha for ITTA, Ganganatha (p. 306) and Zieseníss for Ziesemiss (p. 328).
Ditte König has made a clear and systematic arrangement of the great mass of material she has brought together. Very useful are the excellent indexes: index of primary sources, index of Indian terms and index of topics and names. The reader will learn much from this interesting and stimulating book.
NOTES
1 On vana and ksetra the author refers to an article to be published by Sontheimer. She does not mention an article published in 1976 by Charles Malamoud: 'Village et forêt dans l'idéologie de l'Inde brâhmanique', Archives européennes de sociologie XVII (1976), pp. 3-20. 2 "Der Wertiger" und andere Geschichten in Kharia', IIJ 9 (1965-66). p. 57.
Australian National University
J. W. DE JONG
Christopher Chapple, Karma and Creativity. Albany, N.Y., State University of New York Press, 1986. xii, 144 pp. Paper $9.95; cloth $29.50.
Indo-Iranian Journal 31 (1988).
According to the preface: "This book provides a tour through several texts of Indian religious traditions that discuss human action in a positive light. These include portions of Vedic and Upanisadic literature, the Mahabharata, the Yoga Sutra, the Samkhya Kärikā, and, most importantly, the Yogaväsistha." Christopher Chapple is the author of an unpublished doctoral dissertation: The Concept of Will (Paurusa) in the Yogaväsiṣtha (Fordham University, 1980) and the editor of Swami Venkatesananda's The Concise Yoga Väsistha (cf. IIJ 28, p. 308). An appendix (2) comprises a translation of Yogaväsistha II, 4-5 and II, 7. According to Chapple the quality of Vihari-Läla Mitra's translation of the Yogaväsistha is poor (p. 122, n. 27).' Undoubtedly this translation is not perfect, but it is certainly infinitely better than Chapple's so-called translation. Let me quote two examples: 1. na yatnenäpi mahatä präpyate ratnam aśmataḥ (II.5.23cd). Chapple: "Greatness is not obtained by effort any more than a jewel from sand." Vihari-Lala Mitra: "No pains can bring out a gem from a stone." 2.