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!. Review
One regrets that this otherwise maggifisceat exposition should b; disfigured by misprints, some of which only are corrected in the corrigenda (suddhipatra). Such a long list of errors irritates the reader.
These few shortcomings and a large number of misprints apart, Anandavardhanano dhvano-vicāra" may rightly be described as perhaps the most out-standing exposition in Gujarati of Dhvanyaloka, the masterpiece of Anandavardhana,
V. M. KULKARANI.
Indian Society, Religion and Mythology-A. J. Rawal, Pages 360. D. K. Publications, Delhi 110007. Price Rs. 150.
The present work is a study, mainly cultural, of the Brahmavaiyartapurana (BVP), which tries to follow similar other studies such as Agnipuraņa by Gyani, Matsyapurāņa by Kantawala, Vāyupurāņa by Patil etc. As the author claims in his preface, he has undertaken "an intensive and critical study of the cultural data embedded in BVP." The claim of the author seems fairly justified when we look to the systematic and scientific distribution of the topics and sub-topics, and their detailed treatment. is
Besides dealing with the different problems pertaining to the Purana, the author divides his study into four broad groups-society, socio-economic life, Religion and Philosophy and Mythology. These four well-divided broad groups cover up all allied sub-topics described and discussed by the BVP. The narration and analysis is faithful to the work and cach sub-topic is given its due importance with emphasis on the original or near-original thinking of the Purāņa.
The treatment of the following sub-topics is most enlightening, informative and therefore important:
Society-sixty occupational sub-castes; kinship terms. Socio economic Life-vegetables, cereals etc.; ornaments; musical instru
ments. Religion and Philosophy-Different forms of worship. Mythology-Kļļņa; Gaņeba; Durgā. :
At several places the author grows scholarly, as in-Marriage ceremony (p.59 onwards); position of women (p.69 onwards); units of measurement of time (p.103 onwards); science of medicine (p.118 onwards); Vignu (p.189 onwards); Radha (p.220 onwards). on the whole also, a fairly high loval of croatment is maintained.
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