BOOK REVIEWS
phasis is upon the total culture and cultural
forms, rather than upon means and stages
of production alone. Nonmaterial culture is
important as well as material culture, and
ideology can be a cause of changing cultural
forms as well as a result. Dogmatism is there,
but often it turns toward the unorthodox, and
usually it is used imaginatively.
The author traces the intersection between
Aryan and pre-Aryan peoples in order to ex-
plain the reasons for the Aryan conquest, the
contributions of Aryan and non-Aryan groups
to the post-conquest culture of northern India,
and the development of a more complex
society of specialists. The gradual growth of
trade and cities and of the use of metal are
described in connection with the evolution
of a peasant society based upon stable culti-
vation, in place of the earlier nomadic and
tribal society. The author suggests that Budd-
hism represented a new religious form that
was well-suited to the new society which was
developing during pre-Mauryan and Mauryan
times, because it spoke to the needs of the
ordinary householders and merchants, rather
than to those of religious specialists.
Although his book theoretically ends with
the Muslim conquest of northern India, most
of it deals with the development of Indian
civilization up to the time of Asoka. Professor
Kosambi depicts Asoka's empire as the high-
point of ancient Indian civilization in terms of
social and political organization. The change
from tribal leadership to autocratic monarchy,
from segmentary tribal social organization to
the more broadly based and integrated hier-
archy of a large state, was completed by Asoka.
After the Mauryan period, Prof. Kosambi
traces (rather briefly) a gradual fragmenta-
tion in political life, which resulted in a sys-
tem defined loosely as feudal. With this change
village culture became more prominent, while
urban culture declined. Brahmanism, based
upon village culture, became relatively more
important, while Buddhism became less im-
portant as its economic base declined.
This book is bound to create controversy,
but the controversy should lead to creative
thinking and better understanding on the part
of students, as it has already stimulated bet-
ter scholarship by those who have made use
of the author's concepts and theories. The
189
ninety-eight plates and sixteen figures add
considerably to the text, and include not only
such conventional material as portraits of
kings, but also illustrations of wet and dry
farming methods, slash and burn cultivation,
and of techniques for making pottery.
PHILIP B. CALKINS
University of Chicago
The Dhvanyaloka and its Critics. BY K. KRISH-
NAMOORTHY. Mysore: Kavyalaya Publish-
ers, 1968. xx, 352 pp. Appendix, Index.
$7-50-
Apart from Bharata's seminal Natyalastra,
the most esteemed Sanskrit work on poetics
is the Dhvanyaloka attributed to Ananda-
vardhana (ca. 850-900). This work advances
the view that the main criterion of poetic
merit is the poem's power of "suggestion"
(dhvani). Dr. K. Krishnamoorthy, who pub-
lished a translation of Dhvanyaloka in 1955,
here attempts a description and analysis of the
genesis of the work, the identity and date of
its author, the relation of dhvani to other
traditional poetic concepts and theories, the
opinions of important commentators and
critics, and the parallels between the Dhvany-
alo\a and certain modern western works on
poetics.
Although Dr. Krishnamoorthy's English
prose is quite competent, and his ability as a
Sanskritist unquestioned, the technical nature
of the material and the dry, somewhat pedan-
tic style of presentation will ensure the work
a small audience. Even most Sanskritists, I
suspect, would prefer the author had employed
more English equivalents for technical termi-
nology or provided a glossary. The author
does furnish English translations for most of
the poetic examples he quotes, but these would
have been more effective if better rendered.
These criticisms should not obscure, however,
the valuable service Dr. Krishnamoorthy
has performed by presenting a readable sur-
vey of a large body of specialized and difficult
Sanskrit material.
Dr. Krishnamoorthy's discussion of the au-
thorship of the Dhvanyaloka continues a
lengthy running battle with the late Dr. P. V.
Kane. Both excoriate each other like two verit-
able Durvasases over the question of whether
 190
Anandavardhana wrote both the \dri\a and
vrtti sections of the work. Dr. Krishnamoorthy
argues that he did, and Dr. Kane that he wrote
merely the vrtti. Both scholars note that Abhin-
avagupta, the principal commentator on the
text, carefully distinguishes between the \ari-
\d\dra and the vrtti\ara and points out dif-
ferences of opinion between the two. Dr.
Krishnamoorthy asserts that Abhinavagupta
was merely making a functional division be-
tween the two and cites other passages in
which Abhinavagupta seems to attribute both
the \dri\ds and the vrtti to Anandavardhana.
An interesting parallel, not noted by either
scholar, is offered by the Gana\dri\d and its
commentary. The colophon of the commentary
states that Bhasarvajfia wrote the \dri\ds.
Most authorities now agree that he wrote only
the commentary and not the \dri\ds. In the
case of the Dhvanydlohp, even if Anandavard-
hana wrote only the vrtti, it is probable that
the \dri\ds were composed not many years
earlier since the dhvani theory is not mentioned
by earlier writers. Kdri\d i.i claims certain
former thinkers (budhas) knew of dhvani,
but this reference is less convincing than Dr.
Krishnamoorthy maintains. His own interpre-
tation (p. 25) of a statement from the vrtti
which seems to contradict this \dri\d is also
dubious. His citation (p. 29) of a reference
to the dhvani concept by Nrpatunga, the
Rastrakuta king Amoghavarsa (815-77), can
be used to support the pre-Dhvanydlo^a origin
of the concept, but also can be used to support
the view that the \drika\dra was slightly
earlier than Anandavardhana. Nrpatunga was
a contemporary of Anandavardhana in any
case.
Dr. Krishnamoorthy's exhaustive treatment
of the contents of the Dhvanyalo\a is more in
the nature of description and explanation than
critical analysis and needs little comment. The
great importance and value of the concept
rasa in dhvani theory is emphasized and also
the ability of the theory to provide a stand-
ard of poetic worth which goes beyond, and
in fact rejects, mere skill in ornamentation
and figures of speech. The discussion of the
nit-picking and complicated criticisms of Ma-
himabhatta is over long. The passages cited
from modern western critics often show inter-
esting parallels to dhvani theory, but the
JOURNAL OF ASIAN STUDIES
choice of representative critics is rather eccen-
tric.
DAVID LORENZEN
Wisconsin State University
Heroines of Tagore: A Study in the Trans-
formation of Indian Society 1875-1941. BY
BIMANBEHARI MAJUMDAR. Calcutta: Firma
K. L. Mukhopadhyay, 1968. viii, 345 pp.
Appendixes, Index. Rs. 30.00.
In the preface to this volume, Dr. Majum-
dar gives the following statement of his pur-
pose and point of view in his study: "I have
no pretensions to be a literary critic. I have
looked at the whole matter from the stand-
point of a student of history. I have endeav-
oured to find out how far Tagore was in-
fluenced by the social, religious, economic and
political environment in which he lived and
to what extent his masterly creations have
moulded the character and destiny of the
people of India." In pursuing these objectives,
he has devoted the early chapters of the book
to the economic, social, religious and political
backgrounds of the Tagore literature. There
follow after several chapters devoted to the
various character types found among Tagore's
heroines: maidens, married girls and women,
widows, epic characters, women from the
Buddhist legends and from the medieval
literature, and heroines of the symbolic writ-
ings. The focus changes in the next grouping
of chapters to an analysis of leading female
characters of Tagore's stories in terms of the
chronology of composition; i.e., heroines of
the prewar years, the period of World War I,
and the interwar years. The last two chapters
are devoted to a criticism of Tagore's critics
and the author's conclusions.
In the early chapters of this work, Dr.
Majumdar uses his literary material as a
framework within which he develops a fas-
cinating and excellent study of social history.
These pages are filled with a wealth of ma-
terial, all carefully documented, on a variety
of subjects including the financial policies of
the Zamindars, the professional composition
of the Congress Party, the number and kinds
of professional degrees awarded by Indian
universities, social change as reflected in the