The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c3: Publishers' Preface

The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c3

Language: English

Publishers' Preface

*The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology* by Professor Benoy Kumar Sarkar, of which Book I. of the second edition is being presented in this publication, has had an interesting origin and development. It was in 1910 while my father, the late Major Baman Das Basu, M.R.C.S. (London), I.M.S. (Retd.) was preparing his manuscript for the *Indian Medicinal Plants* (first edition, 1918, second edition, 1936) and organizing the Botanical Court of the All-India Industrial Exhibition at Allahabad that he came into contact with Professor Sarkar of the Bengal National College, Calcutta (National Council of Education, Bengal, est. 1906), as one of the visitors. Prof. Sarkar was then connected, as founder and organizer, also with the *Māldaha Jātīya Śikṣā Samiti* (District Council of National Education, Malda, Bengal, est. 1907) which used to run eleven primary and secondary schools in different parts of the district, at times with over one thousand boys and girls on the rolls. My father entrusted Prof. Sarkar with the translation into English of the Sanskrit work on politics, economics and sociology, entitled *Śukranīti* for the *Sacred Books of the Hindus* Series edited by himself for the Panini Office, which had been established in November 1891 by my uncle, the late Rai Bahadur Sris Chandra Basu Vidyarnava.¹ *The Positive Background* is Professor Sarkar's Introduction to his English translation of Śukrāchārya's *Nītisāra*, as *Śukranīti* is sometimes popularly known.

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\* This bibliographical survey is based on Major B. D. Basu's Preface to his English translation of Sarkar's *Introduction to the Science of Education* (London, 1913), Sarkar's Prefaces to his *Folk-Element in Hindu Culture* (London, 1917), *Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus* (Leipzig, 1922), *Economic Development* (Madras, 1926) and *Applied Eonomics* Vol. I. (Calcutta, 1932), the Publishers' Preface to Sarkar's *Greetings to Young India* (Calcutta, 1927), Major B. D. Basu's Preface to Sarkar's *Political Philosophies Since 1905* (Madras 1928), the Publishers' Preface to *Nayā Bānglār Goḍā Pattan* "The Foundations of a New Bengal" (Calcutta, 1932), Shib Chandra Dutt's brochure, *Fundamental Problems and Leading Ideas in the Works of Professor Benoy Kumar Sarkar* (Calcutta 1932), Pankaj Kumar Mukherjee's *Economic Services of Zamindars to the Peasants and the Public as Analyzed by Professor Benoy Kumar Sarkar* (Calcutta 1934) and Professor Banesvar Dass's Preface to Sarkar's *Bāḍtir Pathe Bāngālī*, "Bengalis in Progress" (Calcutta 1934). Shib Chandra Dutt's *Conflicting Tendencies in Indian Economic Thought* (Calcutta, 1934) is a study, in the main, of the economic theories and policies of Mahatma Gandhi and Professor Sarkar. It contains also a bibliography of economic literature as produced by Indian economists since 1893. See also the last footnote of this Preface.

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¹ P. N. Bose : *Life of Sris Chandra Basu* (Calcutta, 1932), p. 156; R. Chatterjee : "Baman Das Basu" (*Modern Review*, Calcutta, Desember, 1930).

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In 1910 Professor Sarkar had already initiated two series of books, one in Bengali and the other in English. The Bengali Series was entitled *Śikṣā-Vijnān* (Science of Education) and by 1912 was available in the following parts : 1. *Śikṣā-Vijnāner Bhūmikā*, "Introduction to the Science of Education" (1910, 64 pages) with a preface by Hirendra Nath Datta of the *Bangīya Sāhitya Parishat* (Bengali Academy of Literature). 2. *Prāchīn Grīser Jātīya Śikṣā*, "National Education in Ancient Greece" (1910, 150 pages) with a preface by Prof. Benoyendra Nath Sen, published by the *Bangīya Sāhitya Parishat*. 3. *Bhāṣā-Śikṣā*, "The Study of Language" (1910, 150 pages). 4. *Sanskrita-Śikṣā*, "Lessons on Sanskrit", in four parts (1911, 600 pages). 5. *Ingrājī Śikṣā*, "Lessons on English" (1911, 120 pages). 6. *Śikṣā-* *Samālochanā*, "Problems in Education" (1912, 150 pages) with a preface by Barada Charan Mitra, District and Sessions Judge.

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About Prof. Sarkar's *Śikṣā-Vijnān* Series the National Council of Education *Report* for 1908 (p. 18) says as follows: "During the last two years he had been carrying on experiments both in and out of school so as to ascertain the best method to be pursued in teaching the various subjects at the different stages of development. He has already reduced into form his thoughts on the teaching of Bengali, Sanskrit, English, arithmetic, botany, zoology, chemistry and the historical subjects. He is also engaged in compiling a graduated series of text-books on these subjects according to his method of teaching."

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In the *N.C.E. Report* for 1911 (p. 20) we read as follows: "Professor Benoy Kumar Sarkar's Pedagogic Series in Bengali, of which 10 parts were published last year, has been progressing, and the following parts are in preparation: 1. Lessons on Botany (according to the Inductive Method of Teaching). 2. Lessons on Chemistry (according to the Inductive Method of Teaching). 3. Lessons on Mathematics (according to the Inductive Method of Teaching)."

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Professor Sarkar's method of teaching Sanskrit "without a first course of grammar" was appreciated by Mahamahopadhyaya Prof. Adityaram Bhattacharya of Allahabad University as an "effort to facilitate and popularize the study of Sanskrit." Prof. Bhattacharya said further: "The old method has done its part so long and will remain inevitable in the case of higher and thorough study. But if quicker methods of acquiring languages, living or dead, be discovered and introduced, humanity will bless him whose inventive genius can succeed to achieve the object which every well-wisher of learning has at heart. At the very outset the attempt looks somewhat revolutionary. But in other fields it is such revolutionary departures from old track that has hastened the advance of arts and sciences."

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Writing on this Series the *Modern Review* (Calcutta) observed as follows: "The author deserves our best thanks for the service he is doing to the cause of educational reform in our country."

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An idea of the educational reform as embodied in Professor Sarkar's *Śikṣā-Vijnān* Series can be obtained to a certain extent from his *Śikṣānuśāsana* ("Educational Creed"), 1910, which is reproduced below in English:

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"*A. General

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I. Aim and criterion of education twofold: the pupil must grow up to be (i) intellectually, a discoverer of truths and a pioneer of learning; (ii) morally, an organizer of institutions and a leader of men.

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l. Moral training to be imparted not through lessons culled from moral and religious textbooks, but through arrangements by which the student is actually made to develop habits of self-sacrifice and devotion to the interests of others by undertaking work of philanthropy and social service.

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lll. To build up character and determine the aim or mission of life, (i) the "design," plan, and personal responsibility of a single guide-philosopher-friend, and (ii) the control of the whole life and career of the student are indispensable. These circumstances provide the precondition for true spiritual education.

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IV. Educational institutions and movements must not be made planks in political, industrial, social, or religious agitations and propagandas, but controlled and governed by the Science of Education based on the rational grounds of Sociology.

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“B. *Tutorial

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I. Even the most elementary course must have a multiplicity of subjects with due inter-relation and co-ordination. Up to a certain stage the training must be encyclopaedic and as comprehensive as possible.

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II. The mother-tongue must be the medium of instruction in all subjects and through all standards. And if in India the provincial languages are really inadequate and poor, the educationists must make it a point to develop and enrich them within the shortest possible time by a system of patronage and endowments on the “protective principle.”

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III. The *sentence*, not word, must be the basis of language-training, whether in inflexional or analytical tongues, even in Sanskrit; and the Inductive Method of proceeding from the known to the unknown, concrete to the abstract, facts and phenomena to general principles, is to be the tutorial method in all branches of learning.

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IV. Two foreign languages besides English and at least two provincial vernaculars must be made compulsory for all higher culture in India.

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“C. *Organizational

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I. Examinations must be daily. The day’s work must be finished and tested during the day. And terms of academic life as well as the system of giving credit should be not by years or months but according to subjects or portions of subjects studied. Steady and constant discipline, both intellectual and moral, are possible only under these conditions.

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II. The laboratory and environment of student-life must be the whole world of men and things. The day's routine must therefore provide opportunities for self-sacrifice, devotion, recreations, excursions, etc. as well as pure intellectual work. There should consequently be no long holidays or periodical vacations except when necessitated by pedagogic interests."

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The Series in English was entitled the *Aids to General Culture* and comprised the following six parts: 1. *The Constitutions of Seven Modern States*,—based in the main on Woodrow Wilson's *State* (1910, 130 pages). 2. *Political Science*,—based on Seeley (1910, 80 pages). 3. *Economics*,—based on Bagehot's *Economic Studies* and *Lombard Street*, Keynes's *Scope and Method of Political Economy*, Pierson's *Principles of Economics* as well as the works of Gide and Marshall (1910, 172 pages). 4. *English Literature*,—based on the works of Hutton, Green, Brooke, Dowden, Shaw, Ward, Chambers, Raleigh, Marsh, Low, the *English Men of Letters Series*, the *Encyclopaedia Britannica* (American literature), *Cyclopaedia of English Literature* (1911, 224 pages). 5. *Ancient Europe*,—based on the works of Freeman, Bury, Schuckburg, Mahaffy (1911, 100 pages). 6. *Mediaeval Europe*,—based on the works of Hallam, Bryce, Harrison, Guizot, Oman, Emerton, Hassall, Thatcher and Schwill (1911, 160 pages).

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The place of the two series of books by Professor Sarkar in the cultural life of the country was described by Dr. Brajendra Nath Seal, King George V. Professor of Philosophy, Calcutta University, in the following words:

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"Professor Benoy Kumar Sarkar's scheme of educational works is based on sound and advanced ideas of educational science and as such is well calculated to impart a valuable stimulus to the diffusion of culture in the country. Professor Sarkar's notes on medieval and modern history, on economics and on politics show wide knowledge of the subject matter and are evidently the outcome of a mind trained in habits of clear, patient and accurate thinking. His brochure on the study of language may serve as a useful summary of present-day ideas on the subject, and he has given practical illustrations of some of these in his *Lessons on English*, and on *Sanskrit*, which, so far as they go, especially the latter, are an improvement on existing guides and handbooks. Professor Sarkar's programme is certainly an ambitious one, but he is fully qualified to carry it out, and there can be no doubt that it will be found to be a healthy and stimulating force in the Indian educational world of today, especially with the correction and expansion it must receive in the light of practice and experience."

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From 1906 when Prof. Sarkar made his *début* as a writer (*Amrita Bazar Patrika*, Calcutta, July 31, August 1) down to the publication of these two series his mental outlook was essentially practical and fundamentally modern. It was, besides, thoroughly Indian in scope and yet world-wide in range.

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During 1910-11 two batches of scholars associated with Professor Sarkar's educational system in Malda, altogether fifteen in number, were sent out by him for higher studies to the universities of the U.S.A. The following universities were selected by him: Yale, and the State Universities of Michigan and Wisconsin. Some of the scholars were sent later to the Purdue University (Indiana) and the State Universities of Illinois, Iowa and Ohio. One was sent to the University of Berlin in Germany. The subjects selected by him for these scholars were as follows: physics, chemistry, biology, experimental psychology, economics, commerce and banking, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and chemical engineering. These scholars were expected on their return to India to function, first, as educational workers, and secondly, as industrial pioneers, along the lines indicated in Professor Sarkar's books.

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These two series of works in Bengali and English as well as the teaching of modern history and political science at Calcutta and cultural activities in the villages of Bengal associated with the District Council of National Education, Malda, constituted the intellectual and social atmosphere in the midst of which the English translation of *Śukranīti* was undertaken by Professor Sarkar in 1910. The translation was ready by 1912 and published at Allahabad in the *Sacred Books of the Hindus* Series during 1912-14 in several fasciculi. The Introduction to this translation, namely, the *Positive Background*, Book I., was also ready by 1913 and published in several *fasciculi*, coming out finally in 1914, previous to his departure from India on world-tour early in April of the same year.

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When the first edition of the first volume was published my father as editor of the *Sacred Books of the Hindus Series* used to say: "One side of India was presented by Max Müller in his writings, *India What Can It teach Us? Chips from a German Workshop* etc., and especially Dr. Brajane *Sacred Books of the East Series*. This was Philoactive, the idealistic and the metaphysical or the mystical side. The other side of Indian culture,—the materialistic, the secular, the worldly, the objective side has been presented by Professor Sarkar. To understand the Hindu mind and Indian civilization scholars will have to devote attention to both the sides."

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Sir Gilbert Murray (Oxford University) said that the book was not only full of learning but full of points that might throw light on the problems of his own studies. Prof. R. R. Marett, President, Folk-lore Society of London, observed: "It will be of the greatest value to an anthropologist." The economist, Professor Alfred Marshall of Cambridge, remarked: "It is an important contribution to our knowledge of India." According to the *Isis* (Brussels) "the postulate of Professor Sarkar is a novel and fruitful method in the study of Indian civilization."

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The researches and investigations of Professor Sarkar from 1912 to this point are indicated in the following publications:

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¹ *Aitihāsik Pravandha*, "Historical Essays" (1912, 155 pages) with a preface by Principal Ramendra Sundar Trivedi.

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² *Sādhanā*, "Essays in Cultural and National Progress" (1912, 184 pages), with a preface by Akshaya Chandra Sarkar.

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³ *Nigro Jātir Karmavīr*, "The Negro Hero of Action" (1914, 250 pages)

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⁴ *Viśwa-śakti*, "World-Forces" (1914, 332 pages).

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⁵ *Rabīndra Sāhitye Bhārater Vāṇī* "The Message of India in Rabindra Nath Tagore's Works" (1914, pages).

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A. In Bengali

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B. In English

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1. *The Science of History and the Hope of Mankind* (London, Longmans Green & Co. 1912, 80 pages). 2. *Steps to a University* (*Sikṣā-Sopān*), A Course of Intellectual Culture adapted to the Requirements of Bengal (Calcutta, 1912, 53 pages). 3. *The Pedagogy of the Hindus* (Calcutta, 1912, 51 pages). 4. *Introduction to the Science of Education* (London, Longmans Green & Co., 1913, 173 pages), translated from Prof. Sarkar's original Bengali by Major B. D. Basu with a bibliographical introduction. The translation was undertaken at the suggestion of Mr. P. N. Bose, F.G.S. (London), Superintendent of the Geological Survey of India.

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*The Science of History and the Hope of Mankind* was commented on by *Open Court* (Chicago) as follows: "The book shows an unusually broad conception of history not commonly found in scholars of Oriental birth. The main tendency is to show the paramount importance of world-forces for the development of every single nation."

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The experiences of Professor Sarkar during this period found expression in the following *Creed of Life* formulated by him in 1914:

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"A. The Conflict Eternal

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1. Consider yourself to be sacred. Never allow others to exploit you for their ends.
2. Your soul is pure, majestic, free. Always remember this and try to be yourself.
3. It is easy to be misled by circumstances. Through God's grace you may be placed on your own path. Follow it up when you get it.

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4. Life’s *struggle* does not end anywhere. It continues for ever. Equip yourseḷf accordingly.

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“B. Ways and Means

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1. Respect yourself and have *confidence* in your strength. You will then be able to help yourself.
2. You will have to be constantly on the alert to *create* your own opportunities to raise yourself. Opportunities may not present themselves before you without your seeking.
3. By always *contemplating* on the great and the good you will grow into the great and the good.

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“C. The Power of Will

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1. There is greater future before you than you can imagine at present. Never fear that you may fall down but always *hope* for the higher.
2. The more you *persevere* in your new life, the stronger and the more powerful you will grow. The struggle itself will increase your moral and spiritual resources.
3. Yourself is your *best friend* and helper.”

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It may be mentioned in this connection that from 1912 to 1914 Professor Sarkar was the editor of a Bengali monthly of nationalism and world-culture. It was called *Grihastha* (the Householder). He was a member also of the Executive Committee of the *Bangīya Sāhitya Parishat* (Bengali Ạcademy of Literature). His association with the *Collegian*, the fortnightly Educational Journal of Calcutta, is also to be noted. (Pp. 27, 31).

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It was in company with Sj. Shivaprasad Gupta of Benares, subsequently founder of the *Jnāna-maṇḍal* bureau of publications on world-culture in Hindi language, the daily *Āj* (Today), the *Kāshī Vidyāpīṭha* (National College) and the *Bhārata Mātā Mandir* (Temple of Mother India), as well as author of *Prithvī-Pradakṣiṇā* (Rounding the World) in Hindi, that Professor Sarkar started on the journey of investigations and researches in foreign countries.

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From April 1914 when he sailed from Bombay for Egypt down to September 1925 when he came back to Bombay from Italy he was abroad for eleven years and a half. The travels covered Egypt (1914), England, Scotland and Ireland (1914), U.S.A. (1914-15), Hawaii (1915), Japan (1915), Korea and Manchuria (1915), China (1915-16), Japan (1916), U.S.A. (1916-1920), France (1920-1921), Germany (1921-1923), Austria (1922-1923), Switzerland (1923-1924), Italy (1924), Austria and Germany (1924-1925) and Italy (1925).

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Prof. Sarkar devoted a book in Bengali to each country that he visited. His reports, based as they were on visits, interviews as well as researches in libraries, museums and art-galleries, dealt with industry, education, literature, arts and sciences as well as economic and social transformations. These were published in the monthly and weekly journals of Calcutta during 1914-1925. They became the basis of his twelve books under the common title, *Varttamān Jagat* (The Modern World).

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The *Varttamān Jagat* Series of Professor Sarkar is described below with the dates of the first publication as books: 1. *Kabarer Deśe Din Ponoro*, "Fifteen days in the Land of Tombs, Egypt'' (1915, 210 pages). 2. *Inngrājer Janmabhūmi*, ``The Homeland of the Briton'' (1916, 586 pages). 3. *Vimśa Śatāvdīr Kurukṣetra* ``The Armageddon of the Twentieth Century'' (1915, 130 pages). 4. *Yankeestān, Vā Atiranjita Iyorop*, ``The Land of the Yankees, or Europe Writ Large, the U.S.A.'' (1923, 824 pages). 5. *Navīn Eśiār Janmadātā*, ``The Parent of New Asia, Japan'' (1927, 425 pages). 6. *Varttamān Yuge Chīn Sāmrājya*, ``The Chinese Empire in Modern Times'' (1928, 450 pages). 7. *Parise Daś Mās*, ``Ten Months in Paris'' (1932, 312 pages). 8. *Parājita Jārmāni*, ``Germany under Defeat'' (1934, 600 pages). 9. *Switzerland* (1930, 75 pages). 10. *Itālite Bār Kayek*, ``Several Times in Italy'' (1932, 302 pages). 11. *Duniyār Ābhāwā*, ``The Atmosphere of the World'' (1925, 276 pages). 12. *Navīn Ruśiār Jīvan Prabhāt*, ``The Life's Dawn of New Russia'' (1924, 100 pages). The last-mentioned volume was not based on personal experience as Russia was not visited by Professor Sarkar. It describes, besides, the Russian events of 1905.

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The twelve volumes of *Varttamān Jagat* cover nearly 4,500 pages.

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Five other Bengali books, which, however, do not belong to the *Varttamān Jagat* Series, were prepared by Professor Sarkar during this period. The chapters were all published in the journals of Calcutta while he was still abroad. Most of them came out in book form subsequently. The titles and dates of publication as books are as follows:

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¹ *Chīnā Sabhyatār 'A, Ā, Ka, Kha*, ``The A, B, C, of Chinese Civilization'' (1923, 250 pages).

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2. *Parivār, Goṣṭhī O Rāṣṭra*, "Family, Gens and and State," translation from Engels's *Entstehung der Familie, des Eigentums und des Staates* (1926, 250 pages).
3. *Hindu Rāṣṭrer Gaḍan*, "The Morphology of the Hindu State" (1926, 382 pages), published by the National Council of Education, Bengal.
4. *Dhana-Daulater Rūpāntar*, "The Transformations of Wealth," translation from Lafargue's *L'Evolution de la Propriété* (1927, 250 pages).
5. *Swadeshī Āndolan O Samrakshaṇ-Nīti*, "The Swadeshi Movement and Protectionism," translation from the historical section of List's *Das nationale System der politischen Oekonomie* (1932, 250 pages).

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In 1916 while Prof. Sarkar was in Japan he made a resumé of some of his most fundamental ideas in regard to world-culture. These were enunciated as the *Postulates of Young India*. The table reads as follows :

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"A. Statical

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1. Humanity is fundamentally one,—in psychology, logic, ethics, aesthetics and metaphysics,—(i) in spite of physical and physiognomic varieties, and (ii) in spite of age-long historic prejudices.
2. There are no race-types or race-geniuses,—no Oriental or Occidental ideals of existence,—no national characteristics (e.g. Hindu, Saracen, Chinese, German, English, Greek, Egyptian etc.)—(i) in spite of local, geographical and linguistic modifications, and (ii) inspite of the so-called 'social minds' or group-units brought about by the conditions of political homogeneity. Besides, types are in perpetual flux.

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3. Differences are essentially individual. The personalities of men and women do not depend on the world's latitudes and longitudes. The same personality, the same character, the same idiosyncrasy, the same genius, and the same 'gift' are found to exist in individuals who live as the poles asunder, and do not necessarily exist as a mark of *ésprit de corps* among a group of men and women inhabiting a common area of the earth's surface.

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4. Human life is never governed by religion which is everywhere a brilliant superstition consisting in the vain effort to understand the nature of God, but by the desire and power to live and flourish by responding to the thousand and one stimuli of the universe and utilizing the innumerable world-forces (*viśwa-śakti*). This desire and power is the basis of civilization, culture, *Kultur*, or *dharma*, and is spiritual in its very nature, if anything spiritual there be. So-called materialism has never existed in any epoch of civilization or in any phase of *dharma*.

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"B. Dynamic

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I. Political Development

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1. The territorial limits of nationality, or political boundaries, i.e., state-areas have changed almost every generation. They have never been co-extensive with the so-called racial, cultural, religious, natural or even linguistic areas. They have been the results of the conjuncture of circumstances in each instance, which could not be exactly foreseen by statesmen. And this both in the East and in the West.

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2. So-called cultural unities have not necessarily led to national or political unities, nor have the so-called nation-states ever been the embodiment of single-homogeneous culture-types. Political unity inspite of cultural diversity, and political disunion inspite of cultural uniformity have been the verdict of universal history.

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II. Cultural Development

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1. The progress of the nineteenth century and the sixteen years of the twentieth in discoveries and inventions is a unique phenomenon in the history of six millenniums. But Eur-America, which is mainly responsible for this, and Asia, which has contributed almost nothing to it, had been equally "primitive" or pre-"scientific" and pre-"industrial" down to nearly the end of the eighteenth century, if judged by the standard of to-day. Neither politically nor culturally was there East or West till then. It is the subordination of the East to the West in recent times both in politics and culture that has inspired the bombastic jingo fallacy: "East is East, and West is West." The jingo need remember that the history of the Middle Ages was really the history of the Expansion of Asia towards Southern and Eastern Europe. The "superior races" of those times (c. A.C. 600-1600) were the Islamites and Buddhist-Hindu Tartars of Asia.

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2. The new ideas, aspirations, movements, etc. engendered by the steam-and-machine age are revolutionary not only to Asians but also to Eur-Americans. The economic, political, military, social and domestic polities of the West prior to the epoch-making triumphs of human intellect did not differ, except superficially and in a few trifling incidents, from the contemporary institutions obtaining in Asia. The institutions and ideals, the achievements and experiments, the motives and inspirations, the theories and hypotheses, the fads and hobbies prevailing today in England, Germany, France and America should not consequently be regarded by unbiased investigators of facts as anything (i) peculiarly occidental or (ii) non-oriental or (iii) unsuited to oriental "genius" or (iv) antagonistic to the "spirit" of the Orient or (v) materialistic. Scientifically speaking, all these are to be honestly known (i) as modern, constituting one of the phases of the world's evolution, and (ii) as spiritual to the same extent and in the same sense as anything in previous epochs of human culture since the Pharaonic and Vedic ages. These can, therefore, be availed of by and assimilated to, any system of human polity according to the stage and requirements of its growth (e.g., as has been done by Japan without practically changing any of her old-Asian institutions, ideals, prejudices and superstitions).

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"C. Practical

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1. India and the World.—India was never shunted off from the main track of humanity's progress, but has always grown in contact with, by giving to and taking from,—the moving currents of the world's life and thought. India had no epoch of "splendid isolation" but, like every other country, had her values tested by the universal standard of merit measurement. So-called Hindu ideals there are none; there is nothing exclusively Indian in Hindu culture; any idea, fact or truth alleged to be the essential characteristic of the "spirit of Hindusthan" is at the same time the essential feature of the genius of other lands. Young India of today is, therefore, not to approach culture or *dharma* in terms of geographical limits or indigenous, i.e., national race-ideals but drink of it and add to it as a growing stream of universal life-promoting truths;—thereby compelling the world's recognition of its powers and services as a living member of the human race.

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The modern world may be said to have thrown out the following challenge to Young India with its three hundred and fifteen million souls: "The number of first class men and women in the arts and sciences, liberal and applied, and in every walk of life, which India can exhibit today must,—on account of the relative strength in population,—be nearly five or six times that of those in England, Germany, France or Japan or three times that of those in the U.S.A. before you can have a legitimate claim to the world's respect. The world does not care to take note of your difficulties and hindrances and to meet you half-way. It is your own lookout to solve them by devising adequate ways and means." The sole mission of Young India is to ponder over this challenge, accept it boldly if possible, and make the necessary preparations to meet the world's demand in defiance of all apathies and antipathies.

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2. India is not one, but many. The motto of Young India is to be not unity at any cost, but efficiency. Emphasis should be laid not so much on solidarity as on the acquisition of strength by all means."

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The English works of Professor Sarkar prepared and published while abroad during 1914-1925 are enumerated below :

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(1) *Chinese Religion through Hindu Eyes* (1916, Shanghai, 363 pages).
(2) *Love in Hindu Literature* (1916, Tokyo, 95 pages).
(3) *The Folk-Element in Hindu Culture* (1917, London, 332 pages).
(4) *Hindu Achievements in Exact Science* (1918, New York, 95 pages).
(5) *Hindu Art : Its Humanism and Modernism*, an introductory essay (1920, New York, 44 pages).
(6) *The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology*, Book II. (Political), Part I. (1921, Allahabad, 126 pages).
(7) *The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus* (1922, Leipzig, 266 pages).
(8) *The Futurism of Young Asia* (1922, Berlin, 409 pages).
(9) *The Aesthetics of Young India* (1923, Calcutta, 120 pages).
(10) *The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology*, Book II. Part II. with an appendix on "Hindu Politics in Italian" (120 pages, Allahabad, 1926).

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To this is to be added a volume in German entitled *Die Lebensanschauung des Inders* (Leipzig, 1923, 91 pages).

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About *Love in Hindu Literature* the observations of *Current Opinion* (New York) are as follows : "The attempt to take the divine poetry of Radha-Krishna literature which has always been regarded as an allegory of the mystical union between God and the soul and to secularize it is the task of Prof. Sarkar."

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The *Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus* was reviewed in the *Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society* (London) in the following manner: "The book is a study in comparative Hindu political constitutions and concepts. He seeks to give a readable account, and this he has done with frequent allusions and much elegant writing." According to the *International Review of Missions* (London) the book is "a remarkably incisive and learned piece of scholarship."

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About the *Futurism of Young Asia*, Professor Haushofer says in the *Süddeutsche Monatshefte* of Munich that "it can be regarded as a guide to the ideas of leaders of the Asian movement. Everybody who undertakes a deeper and more intensive investigation in this problem, in so far as the exhibition of surging ideas is concerned, will have to begin chiefly by analysing Sarkar's philosophical fresco of awakening Asia. The most magnificent of all presentations from the Asian standpoint known to me."

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*The Statesman* (Calcutta) said as follows: "European writers, he alleges with some truth, have sought to belittle Indian achievements. There is truth in the criticism of the fallacies committed by Western scholars in the application of the comparative method to the study of race-questions. The criticism is undoubtedly justified and applies to many of the books which are regarded as standard work upon the manners and philosophy of the East."

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According to the *Sozialwissenschaftliches Literaturblatt* (Berlin) the *Futurism* "reminds in many ways of Spengler on account of the stupendously many-sided erudition and the spiritual flexibility with which this scholarship traverses in a powerful manner all the regions and epochs of human culture" (*gemahnt vielfach an Spengler durch die verblüffend vielseitige Erudition und die geistige Gelenkigkeit mit der diese Gelehrsamkeit in gewaltigen Sprüngen alle Räume und Zeiten der menschlichen Kultur durchhüpft*).

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The papers of Professor Sarkar in American journals during 1917-1921 are mentioned below:

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1. Oriental Culture in Modern Pedagogics (*School and Society*, New York, April, 1917).
2. The Futurism of Young Asia (*International Journal of Ethics*, University of Chicago, July 1918).
3. The Influence of India on Modern Western Civilization (*Journal of Race Development*, Clark University, Worcester, Mass, July 1918).
4. Democratic Theories and Republican Institutions in Ancient India (*American Political Science Review*, Urbana, Ill., November 1918).
5. Hindu Political Philosophy (*Political Science Quarterly*, Columbia University, New York, December, 1918).
6. The Democratic Background of Chinese Culture (*The Scientific Monthly*, New York, January, 1919).
7. The Reshaping of the Middle East (*Journal of Race Development*, April, 1919).

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8. Americanization from the Viewpoint of Young Asia (*Journal of International Relations*, Clark University, July, 1919).

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9. The Hindu View of Life (*Open Court*, Chicago, August, 1919).

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10. The Hindu Theory of International Relations (*American Political Science* (*Stimmen des 1919*). *Indien-Tech*, February, 1923).

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11. Conf-Deutscher Bericht über das heutige Indien (*Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung*, Berlin, August, 1923).

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11. Die Industrialisierung Indiens (*Mitteilungen Vereins Deutscher Ingenieure*, Berlin, November, 1924).

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12. Bücherbesprechung (*Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv*, Jena, January, 1925).

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13. Paesaggio atesina (*Rivista dell'Alto Adige*, Bolzano, April, 1925).

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The French papers are based on some of the lectures delivered in French (1921) at the University of Paris (*Faculté de Droit*), the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques, the Musée Guimet etc., and the German papers on lectures delivered in German (1922) at the University of Berlin, the *Deutsche Gesellschaft 1914*, the *Morgenländische Gesellschaft*, etc.

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It is to be mentioned that while in the U.S.A. Prof. Sarkar was a contributing editor to the *Journal of International Relations* edited by President G. Stanley Hall of Clark University. At Berlin (1922-1924) he was the editor of *Commercial News* established by the Indo-europäische Handelsgesellschaft of which the Managing 21. The Public Finance of Hindu Empires (*Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science*, Philadelphia, September, 1921).

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These papers are based in the main on the Professor's lectures at the State Universities of California (1916) and Iowa (1916), Columbia (New York 1917) and Clark (Worcester, Mass. 1917) Universities, the University of Pittsburg (1918), Western Reserve University (Cleveland, Ohio, 1918), Amherst College (Mass, 1918), the Rand School of Social Science (New York, 1919), the University Forum of America (1919), the College of the City of New York (1920), the New York University (1920), and other American academic and learned societies between 1916 and 1920.

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Professor Sarkar's Italian, French and German papers from 1920 to 1925 are enumerated in the following list²:
1. Gilde di mestier e gilde mercantili nell'India antica (*Giornale degli Economisti e Rivista di Statistica*, Rome, April, 1920).
2. La Théorie de la constitution dans la philosophie politique hindoue (*Revue de Synthèse Historique*, Paris, August, 1920).
3. La France et l'Inde (*L'Intransigeant*, Paris, February, 1921).
4. La Démocratie hindoue (*Séances et Travaux de l'Académie des sciences morales et politiques*, Paris, July-August, 1921).
5. Die Lebensanschauung des Inders (*Deutsche Rundschau*, Berlin, January, 1922).

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² For subsequent papers in French, Italian and German see p. 39.

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6. Politische Strömungen in der indischen Kultur (*Deutsche Rundschau*, Berlin, March, 1922).
7. Die soziale Philosophie Jung-Indiens (*Deutsche Rundschau*, Berlin, April, 1922).
8. India's Overseas Trade (*Export-Import Review*, Berlin, September, 1922).
9. Moderne Indische Aquarelie (*Stimmen des Orients*, Kirchheim-Tech, February, 1923).
10. Ein deutscher Bericht über das heutige Indien (*Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung*, Berlin, August, 1923).
11. Die Industrialisierung Indiens (*Mitteilungen Vereins Deutscher Ingenieure*, Berlin, November, 1924).
12. Bücherbesprechung (*Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv*, Jena, January, 1925).
13. Paesaggio atesina (*Rivista dell'Alto Adige*, Bolzano, April, 1925).

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The French papers are based on some of the lectures delivered in French (1921) at the University of Paris (*Faculté de Droit*), the *Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques*, the *Musée Guimet* etc., and the German papers on lectures delivered in German (1922) at the University of Berlin, the *Deutsche Gesellschaft 1914*, the *Morgenländische Gesellschaft*, etc.

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It is to be mentioned that while in the U.S.A. Prof. Sarkar was a contributing editor to the *Journal of International Relations* edited by President G. Stanley Hall of Clark University. At Berlin (1922-1924) he was the editor of *Commercial News* established by the Indo-europäische Handelsgesellschaft of which the Managing Director was and continues to be Mr. Birendra Nath Das-Gupta B.S.E.E. (Purdue, U.S.A.), electrical engineer.

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During this period Professor Sarkar contributed a large number of papers on industry, economic legislation, commercial progress and currency questions to the journals of India like *Forward*, *Modern Review*, *Mysore Economic Journal*, etc. These found a place subsequently in his book, *Economic Development* (Madras 1926). (See p. 31). While Professor Sarkar was at Bolzano in Italy he issued in 1924 a comprehensive *Scheme of Economic Development for Young India* which was published *in extenso* in many of the dailies, weeklies and monthlies of India during 1925. The main provisions of this "economic planning", all-embracing as it is, are as follows:

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“A. Fundamental Considerations

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1. Indian poverty is in reality unemployment on a continental scale.
2. Industrialism is the cure for poverty in so far as it can create employments in diverse fields.
3. Foreign capital is to be treated as a God-send, so far as larger schemes of industrialization are concerned.
4. At the present moment Indian capital should not be considered adequate for anything but modest enterprises only.

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“B. The Programme: Economic Enterprises, Class by Class.

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I. Peasants

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1. Larger holdings wanted.
2. New employments for peasants to be opened in the "cottage industries."

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3. Co-operative societies not only for credit but also for marketing, irrigation etc.
4. Combines for sale.

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II. Artisans

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1. Improved appliances to be introduced.
2. Schools for handicrafts a technical necessity.
3. Banks for handicrafts or cottage industries a financial desideratum.

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III. Retail Traders

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1. Schools for petty merchants (in combination with the schools for artisans), as in II. 2. above.
2. Banks for shopkeepers.

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IV. Industrial Workers

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1. Trade unions to be promoted.
2. Right to strike and other demands to be conceded when necessary.
3. Co-operative stores in order that workingmen may lower the cost of living.

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V. Landowners of the Richer Categories.

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1. Large scale farming to be undertaken.
2. Modern industries to be started.
3. Export-import business to be organized.
4. Insurance companies to be established.
5. Banks of all denominations to be founded.

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VI. Exporters and Importers

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1. Banks for foreign trade to be created.
2. Overseas insurance to be started.
3. Commercial News Bureaus to be organized.
4. Foreign language and commercial geography classes to be established.
5. Indian commercial agencies in foreign countries.

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VII. Moneyed Classes
1. Modern industries of three categories, (a) small, (b) medium and (c) large or giant, to be established by these classes in the same manner as by the richer landowners.
2. Export and import.
3. Insurance societies.
4. Banks.
5. Legislation against usury, a social necessity.

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VIII. Intellectuals
1. New professions to be sought for the members of the *intelligentsia* as technical or other assistants and directors in the new industries and trades.
2. Existing Government services to be Indianized on a liberal scale.
3. Co-operative stores and housing societies. 4 Handicrafts and Trades Schools for the children of the intellectual classes, as in II. 2. and III. 1. above.
5. Pioneers of economic development,—“economic general staff”—to be trained for every district by sending competent scholars to foreign countries.”

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With this *Scheme* Professor Sarkar brought to a head the results of all his papers on economic theories and developments published in the Indian journals on the basis of first-hand investigations in post-war Europe. (See p. 31).

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From 1919 to 1922 Professor Sarkar used to send regular contributions about the cultural developments in Europe and America to the fortnightly educational journal of Calcutta, the *Collegian*. His section was known as the "World of Culture". Through these contributions Indian intellectuals were introduced to a large number of prominent thinkers in the diverse arts and sciences. (Pp. 11, 31).

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During the period of foreign travels and researches Professor Sarkar was elected a life-member of the Royal Asiatic Society, North China Branch, Shanghai (1916), a permanent *membre correspondant* of the *Société d'Economie Politique* of Paris (1920) and a member of the *Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft* of Leipzig (1921).³

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³ For memberships of other learned societies see p. 46.

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On his return to India Professor Sarkar established at Calcutta in April 1926 the monthly journal of economics in Bengali entitled *Ārthik Unnati* (Economic Progress). This became the starting point of a new series of books in Bengali. They are enumerated below:
1. *Ekāler Dhana-Daulat O Arthaśāstra*, "The Wealth and Economics of our Own Times", Vol. I. The Diverse Forms of New Wealth (1930, 440 pages), Vol. II. The New Foundations of Economics (1935, 710 pages).
2. *Nayā Bānglār Goḍā Pattan*, "The Foundations of a New Bengal, Economic and Social" (1932), Vol. I. Theoretical (530 pages), Vol. II. Practical (450 pages).
3. *Bāḍtir Pathe Bāngālī*, "Bengalis in Progress" (1934, 636 pages).

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In October 1928 Professor Sarkar established the *Bangīya Dhana-Vijnān Parishat* (Bengali Institute of Economics), with my father as the first President, in April 1932 the “*Antarjātik Banga*” *Parishat* (“International Bengal” Institute), and in April 1937 the *Bangīya Samāj-Vijnān Parishat* (Bengali Institute of Sociology). The object of these three *Parishats* or Institutes is to promote investigations and researches in the different branches of economics, constitution, sociology etc. through the medium of Bengali. In all this work his chief colleague is Dr. Narendra Nath Law, editor of the *Indian Historical Quarterly*, and Managing Director of the Bangeswari Cotton Mills Ltd.

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Nearly two dozen academically well-qualified Research Fellows and Research Assistants have been working in connection with these Institutes in an honorary capacity. Some of them have published books of substantial value, for instance, Shib Chandra Dutt: *Dhana-Vijnāne Sākreti*, “Apprenticeship in Economics” (1932, 330 pages), and *Conflicting Tendencies in Indian Economic Thought* (Calcutta, 1934, 234 pages); Rabindra Nath Ghosh: *Ṭākākaḍi*, “Money and Currency Problems” (1936, 220 pages); Pankaj Kumar Mukherjee: *Labour Legislation in British India* (Calcutta, 1937, 240 pages). A volume dealing with the contributions of 21 scholars to the conferences of the Bengali Institute of Economics has been published as *Bānglāy Dhana-Vijnān*, “Economics in Bengali” (1937, 750 pages).

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In this connection may be mentioned also the Italian work entitled *La Politica Finanziaria Britannica in India* (Bologna, 1937, 230 pages) by Dr. Monindra Mohan Moulik Pol.D. (Rome), Research Fellow of the *Bangīya Dhana-Vijnān Parishat*, who went to join the University of Rome as a scholar of the *Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente* and obtained a doctorate in political science. Dr. Moulik has prepared another work in Italian, *Saggi sull’India Contemporanea* as well as a book in English, *Agricultural Progress in Italy*. Both these works are in the press.

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From 1926 to 1932 Professor Sarkar was the editor of the *Journal of the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce*. In 1929 he established *Indian Commerce and Industry* and in 1934 the *Indian Commercial and Statistical Review*. Since 1926 he has been contributing to the *Calcutta Review* (published by the Calcutta University) and especially for its Miscellany Section since 1933 monthly reports and articles on economic developments in Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Czechoslovakia, Russia, U.S.A. and other countries as well as on contemporary sociological and political theories. For example, the ideas of Durkheim, Lapouge, Bouglé, Duguit, Lévy-Bruhl, Lasbax, Brunschvigg, Charmont, Joseph-Barthélemy, Lavergne, Faguet, Pareto, Rocco, Niceforo, Croce, Gentile, Redanò, Giorgio Del Vecchio, Michels, Bottai, Tönnies, Ammon, Simmel, Spengler, Max Weber, Meinecke, Van den Bruck, von Wiese, Krabbe, Jellinek, Haushofer, Koellreutter, Heyking, Freyer, Spann, Vierkandt, Oppenheimer, Dewey, Boas, Conklin, Hocking, Sorokin, Bernard, Hankins, Parmelee, Barnes, Goldenweiser, Bosanquet, Wallas, Bertrand Russell, McDougall, Barker, Hobhouse, Ginsberg, Masaryk, Zaghlul, Sun Yat-sen, Araki,—among others, have been introduced through these contributions to the reading public.

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It may be observed at the same time that through his monthly *Ārthik Unnati* (Economic Progress) Professor Sarkar has been able since 1926 to introduce through Bengali the economic writings of Pantaleoni, Gini, Benini, Carli, Graziani, Mortara, Tivaroni, Serpieri, Ciasca, Cabiati, Walras, Levasseur, Gide, Rist, R.-G. Lévy, Yves-Guyot, Truchy, Aftalion, Ansiaux, Hauser, Oualid, Boverat, Vieuille, Bousquet, Adam Müller, Sering, Diehl, Harms, Wagemann, Menger, Böhm-Bawerk, Schumacher, Zahn, Burgdörfer, von Zwiedineck, Mombert, Oppenheimer, von Wieser, Sombart, Wiskemann, Adolf Weber, Manes, Fisher, Dublin, John Bates Clark, Seligman, Mitchell, Taussig, Marshall, Hobson, Cannan, Keynes, Pigou, Bowley, Carr-Saunders, Hainisch, Cassel, Uyehara, Tushimato, Uyeda, Ohuchi, Yamamoto, Kuczynski, Studensky and so forth.

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The work that is being done by Professor Sarkar through *Ārthik Unnati* and the *Calcutta Review* may to a certain extent be regarded as a continuation of the work that was done by him through the *Collegian* (Calcutta) from 1919 to 1922 while he was in foreign countries, in so far as the introduction of world-thought to Indian intellectuals is concerned. (Pp. 11, 27).

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The English works of Professor Sarkar from 1926 to 1937 are mentioned below:

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¹ *Economic Development* (Madras, 1926, 464 pages). (See pp. 25, 27).

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² *The Politics of Boundaries* (Calcutta, 1926, 340 pages).

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³ *A Scheme of Economic Development for Young India* (Calcutta, 1926, 42 pages).

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⁴ *Hindu Politics in Italian* (Calcutta, 1926, 62 pages).

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⁵ *Greetings to Young India* (Calcutta, 1927, 182 pages).

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6. *The Political Philosophies Since 1905* (Madras, 1928, 404 pages).

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7. *The Pressure of Labour Upon Constitution and Law* (Benares, 1928, 60 pages).

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8. *Comparative Pedagogics in relation to Public Finance and National Wealth* (Calcutta, 1929, 134 pages).

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9. *Applied Economics*, Vol. I. (Calcutta, 1932, 320 pages).

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10. *Comparative Birth, Death and Growth Rates* (Calcutta, 1932, 36 pages).

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11. *Indian Currency and Reserve Bank Problems* (Calcutta, 1933, 1934, 94 pages).

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12. *Imperial Preference vis-à-vis World Economy in relation to the International Trade and National Economy of India* (Calcutta, 1934, 172 pages).

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13. *The Might of Man in the Social Philosophy of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda* (Madras, 1936, 28 pages).

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14. *Social Insurance Legislation and Statistics* (Calcutta 1936, 470 pages).

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15. *The Sociology of Population* (Calcutta 1936, 150 pages).

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16. *Creative India from Mohenjo Daro to the Age of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda* (Lahore, 1937, 725 pages).

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Writing on the author's *Indian Currency and Reserve Bank Problems* the *Journal of the Royal Statistical Society* (London) observes: "It is well known that Prof. Sarkar, who has travelled and studied widely in Europe and America, holds views on politico-economic problems now facing his country not identical with the strongly nationalistic opinions of many of his countrymen. The author has put forward with considerable force and statistical support the argument that the amount and Rupee value of India's exports (mainly agricultural) are not necessarily dependent upon the rate of exchange. Similarly Prof. Sarkar has pertinent observations on the subject of the export of gold from India in recent years. The very interesting articles on Price-Curves in the Perspective of Exchange-Curves contains useful statistics relating to the main staples of India illustrated by charts, designed to establish the author's thesis that economic recovery had already commenced in India."

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*The Insurance and Finance Review* (Calcutta) says: "It was Prof. Sarkar who first raised his voice against the 'classical' economists, so to say, of India, for example, the Bombay millowners. In this monograph will be found the germs of the formation of a new school of economic thought in Bengal that approaches the economic problems of the day from an objective point of view without yielding to popular confusions or dictates of interested partisans in a controversy".

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According to the *Hindu* (Madras), "on most questions Prof. Sarkar's views are not identical with those held by prominent businessmen in the country. On every question he has attempted to substantiate his case by facts and figures. One fails to see how the businessmen can pick holes in Prof. Sarkar's arguments. A highly stimulating treatise on certain aspects of Indian monetary and banking problems."

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According to the *Economic Journal* (Journal of the Royal Economic Society, London) Prof. Sarkar's *Imperial Preference* “gives a detailed account of the circumstances that in his opinion justified the Government and the legislature of India in concluding the Ottawa Agreement of 1932. The arguments are full and well-reasoned, and are copiously illustrated by figures and charts. Several books and pamphlets have appeared in India at the time and subsequently, condemning the policy of the Indo-British Trade Agreement, and it is satisfactory to have in Mr. Sarkar's book a realistic presentation of the opposite point of view from the pen of an independent economist. That Mr. Sarkar, who is a vigorous as well as prolific writer on the present-day economic problems of India, is not afraid of propounding views which run counter to those held by a large section of Indian politicians is clear from the contents of Mr. Shib Chandra Dutt's book, *Conflicting Tendencies in Indian Economic Thought*”.

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Linked texts (3)

Mohenjo-daro
Ṛgvedasaṃhitā — Sanskrit
Vedānta — Sanskrit