-002_Publishers^Note.htm PUBLISHERS' NOTE The Publishers acknowledge their indebtedness to the Editors of The Bombay Chronicle Weekly, The All India Weekly and The Advent in whose pages the essays included in this volume have already appeared—mostly .in a shorter form.

ART-PRINCIPLES FOR INDIA The Marxist Attitude in the Balance There was recently a burst of tanks and bombers in newspaper columns against an art-critic who ventured to challenge Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's pronouncement some months ago on the essence and aim of art. and aim of art. I do not deny that the said artcritic's statement was lacking in clearness and completeness. Bur was he absolutely off the right line? Was the core of his contention really open to fatal attack? To understand that core we must look clearly at Nehru's own thought. Nehru seems to have had five principles in mind. First, art should not be cut off from life. Second, it

WAS THIS THE ENLIGHTENED ONE? Modern Misconceptions about Buddha The other day I came across an article on Buddha by an Indian writer. I took it up with keen interest, wondering how it would expound Buddha's Nirvana in lucid journalese. It made a good story, but to my disappointment I found that the author got over the Gordian knot of Nirvana by pretending there was no knot at all. To be a countryman of the great Gautama and yet to quote H.G.Wells on Buddhism—this was beyond belief. How could H.G.Wells probe into the soul of a man who would have regarded the seer of the outer shape of things-to-come as totally ignorant of the inner shape o

CAN INDIANS WRITE ENGLISH POETRY? The Indian Mind and the English Language W. B. YEATS is said to have " pooh-poohed" the idea that an Indian could write English poetry of a high order. It is indeed true that the subtle inwardness one feels towards one's mother-tongue is likely to be missing .when an Indian attempts to express himself in English. But is it impossible to have it? And is it advisable always for us to fall back upon our vernaculars and leave English to Irishmen like Yeats? Reading most of the verse turned out by English-speaking Indians we are almost persuaded that we shall never succeed in reaching a high standard. But h

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF JAWAHARLAL NEHRU A Vision of his "Actual" and his "Potential" PANDIT Jawaharlal Nehru rode on horseback to meet the Cabinet Mission. He had gone in the same way to confer with Lord Wavell a year or so earlier. Gandhi came in a rickshaw; so too did Maulana Abu! Kalam Azad. But Nehru was astride a dappled horse. When I saw him thus in the Indian News Parade I was struck with the significance of the act. Here was something princely—an old-world nobility made its appearance. Here also was something warriorlike—an adventurous spirit fared forth. Here, again, was something romantic—a dreamer rose above humdrumne

THE WORLD-LEADER OF TOMORROW Sri Aurobindo through a Biographer's Eyes "ETERNITY !·how learnt I that strange word?" asks Laurence Binyon in a poem. The question might more appropriately have been put by a young Bengali to himself during his student days in England with his two elder brothers, one of whom was an intimate friend of Laurence Binyon. For this young Bengali was caught in puzzling psychological cross-currents. Educated in England from early boyhood, he was as completely Westernised as any Indian could be-Westernised not only in the sense that the whole world of European culture, ancient, me diaevaland modern, became part of him; b

THE INSPIRATION OF SAROJINI NAIDU A Defence against Colour-blind and Tone-deaf "Debunkers" "Debunking" is the favourite sport of our time —often a healthy necessary sport; but futile and thankless is the attempt to "debunk" skylarks and nightingales and Sarojini Naidu! Critics have begun to find her work void of true emotion; they see no real creative drive in it. Mere colour, vague imagery, tinsel sentiment—these sum her up in their view. The sole compliment they pay her is that she has an attractive command over language and a consummate skill in poetic form. That is, her technique is impressive but the inspiration is no more than fa

EVOLVING INDIA ESSAYS ON CULTURAL ISSUES K. D. SETHNA HIND KITABS LIMITED PUBLISHERS ; BOMBAY First Published in November 1947 copyright Printed at Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, Pondicherry. Published by V. Kulkarni, Hind Kitabs Limited, 261-3Hornby Road, Bombay