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GEORGE BURCH
written, but only three (Krishnamurti, Das, Radhakrishnan) are still alive today. The longest section is 21 pages on K. C. Bhattacharya (1875-1949). Concerning him Raju states (p. 354) that "what he has written is not easy to read, and he makes little attempt to make his ideas understandable," and "yet one who has the patience and perseverance to read and understand them will find that his ideas are not without value and importance"-both statements certainly true. Raju's discussion, however, consists entirely of a summary of Bhattacharya's article "The Concept of Philosophy" (if "summary" is the right word for an exposition slightly longer than the work summarized), to the neglect of his many other works. While it seems inadequate as a general account of this outstanding philosopher, it does provide an excellent commentary on this one difficult but important work.
This same article by K. C. Bhattacharya is reflected in a systematic study of the Advaita theory of knowledge recently published by G. R. Malkani, director of the Indian Institute of Philosophy at Amalner. Professor Malkani has been an outstanding contemporary advocate of that extreme non-dualism, based on rigorous and uncompromising logic, which Gaudapada taught in ancient times—one expounding it in Sanskrit and Hindu categories of thought, the other in English and Western categories, both with brevity and profundity. In this book, however, he attempts to incorporate the Vedantic yet strikingly original thought of K. C. Bhattacharya, especially his distinction of four "grades of theoretic consciousness" (empirical, objective, spiritual, transcendental) with their distinct types of content (fact, object, reality, truth). Malkani, like all Indian philosophers with whom I am acquainted, has great respect for the profundity and subtlety of Bhattacharya's works. The attempt to incorporate this original work is sincere, but it is a failure. However much he employs Bhattacharya's terms, distinctions, and methods of approach, the
? Contemporary Indian Philosophy, 2nd ed. (London, 1952), pp. 105125.
8 Ghanshamdas Rattanmal Malkani, Vedantic Epistemology (Amalner, 1953).
. His complete works, a project beyond the scope of this review, are now being published under the title Studies in Philosophy (Calcutta: Progressive Publishers).
