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GĪTĀ AND GANDHIJI
T. S. NANDI
Pub. National Gandhi Museum, N. D.; Gyan Pub. House, Dr. Ramesh S. Betai 2nd revised Edition. '02 “A Review” by Dr. Tapasvi S. Nandi. pp. 307
For the work under our review vig. "Gītā and. Gandhiji”, we congratulate the author Dr. Ramesh Betai, a prolific writer who has specialised in the area not only of 'smritis' i.e. jurisprudence of ancient India, but also in ‘darśanas' i.e. various branches of Indian Philosophy, in Sanskrit Sāhitya in general and then in literary aesthetics of ancient India. He is also thoroughly conversant with literary trends both in poetry and criticism in general in modern Gujarati writing, as he happens to be the worthy son of an illustrious and great professor and poet Sri Sunderjee Betai.
The present work is the welcome addition both in the field of studies in Bhagawad Gītā (= B. G.) in general and in Gandhian literature aiming at explaining various aspects of Mahatmā Gandhi's (=M.G.) personality, here his effort in explaining the message of B.G. for the common man.
The writer has taken great care in first introducing the subject (pp. 1-12), and then giving the survey of principal interpretations of the B.G. (Ch. 2, pp. 2039) (ancients & moderns pp. 45-76), and then attempting Gandhiji's interpretation of the B.G. (chs. 4 & 5), including a neat analysis (ch.5). He has successfully tried to explain the background (ch.6) that drew M. G. towards the B. G. Ch. 7 attempts to correlate the B. G. and M.G.'s teachings, with topics such as -- "G.'s ethics & B. G., etc.
Ch. 8 discusses M.G.'s views as deduced from his approach to the B. G. We may observe that all scholars may not agree with M. G. in taking the Mahābhārata, The Rāmāyana and the B. G. as allegorical.
Ch. 9 (pp. 238-259) continues the writer's effort to deduce M.G.'s views from the B.G., including topics such as "Gītā and Ahimsā", Common man today
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