HELLENISM and HINDUISM

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About the Book:

The area and topics of discussion on this subject could be quite wide. Since many scholars, both in India and outside, have discussed some of the topics at length, the author has selected some basic concepts from the two cultures for discussion in this monograph. The nature, origin, and evolution of languages, the concept of man and the idea of humanism, the concept of cosmology and cosmology, the nature of justice, Social justice, and the meaning and nature of ethics would be his main concern, as these elements form the very core of any culture and civilization.

About the Author:

Professor D. N. Tripathi was head of the department of Ancient History, Archaeology and Culture and Director, Rahul Peeth, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, Gorakhpur University. Gorakhpur where he taught for about four decades. He was educated in Allahabad and has a Ph.D. from Southampton University, (U.K.). He was Fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla (1999-2002) and Visiting Professor British Academy, U.K. (2003). He has authored about six monographs and more than fifty research papers. He has attended many international seminars in Europe, America and Canada and had represented the Indian Council of Historical Research in the International Congresses held at Montreal (Canada) and Liege (Belgium) in 2001 and 2002 respectively. Currently, Professor Tripathi is Associate Editor, PHISPC, Centre for Studies in Civilizations, New Delhi and Chairman, Indian Council of Historical Research, New Delhi.

The following pages embody the results of my work at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, where I was appointed a fellow on 14 May 1999. The concepts discussed in this book are some of the Great Ideas of the Greek and Indian cultures. These concepts are the Perennial Philosophy of the civilized world. It is the "Indianness" and the "Helleneness" of the two great civilizations which were responsible for the growth of the basic tenets of the Oriental and Occidental civilizations, respectively. In undertaking the study I had no desire of propounding any theory or building any model; my sole intention was to examine and present systematically, in a concise form, the basic facets of the two great cultures on the basis of the latest archaeological researches and analyses of texts, from the earliest period to the classical phase which was an age of innovations and was therefore remarkable and fascinating in many respects.

The source material for this study is abundant and is available in many languages and archaeological artifacts of the Indo- European world. This stands in the way of a full evaluation of the different aspects of these cultures as I do not know many of the languages (except Greek, Sanskrit, and English) and have not examined the archaeological data kept in various museums of European countries. I had some opportunity to study the Greek material kept in different museums there. But, that was long back in 1971-76. I do not know how much more archaeological material must have come into light. However, I have tried to update my knowledge through journals and books published thereafter. I am fully conscious of the numerous defects that this study suffers from. No one else but I am responsible for this.

I record my thanks to the, Governing Body of the Institute and its Directors, Professor Mrinal Miri, (for the letter of invita- tion to join as a Fellow), Professor S. C. Bhattacharya (now a National Fellow at the Institute), and Professor V. C. Srivastava for the facilities that were offered to me. I offer my regards and thanks to Professor Ramashray Roy, an eminent political thinker, for having gone into the manuscript minutely and correcting it. Gratefulness cannot be expressed in words to the Philosopher- Historian, Professor Govinda Chandra Pande, Chairman of the Governing Body of this Institute and my gurudeva but for whose guidance and help it would never have been possible to complete this project. I am also grateful to my wife, Smt. Leela Tripathi, who, despite her ill health, kept company and encouraged me for this work by taking over all the responsibilities at home.

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