78 REVIEWS

was greatly influenced, as all Krishnaite poetry, by the Gıtagovinda. The

poems on the painting were composed in the second half of the reign
of King Siddhinarasim . ha, i.e. approximately 1640–1660, and belong
to the oldest Newari texts that have hitherto been critically examined
and translated. The speakers in the poems are, with a single exception,
one or more gopıs. The texts are written in a language which is often
difficult to understand on account of the archaic and poetic imagery
and the presence of numerous words of which the meaning is known
only to a few experts. Lienhard examines the imagery, the linguistic
form, rhyme and prosody and the ragas and rhythms.
In the second part of his work, Lienhard describes in detail the scenes
depicted in the painting. All the thirty-one scenes are reproduced in
colour. The texts are edited and translated in the third part of his work.
Each text is preceded by a short description of its contents and other
details. Lienhard has tried to be as faithful to the original as possible.
The texts of the songs are reproduced on plates, and the words are listed
in a glossary, which includes orthographic variants and related forms
in Sanskrit, Hindi or Nepali, followed by the meaning and references
to the song and the lines. A bibliography lists the books and essays
consulted and/or mentioned in this work. The index mentions names
and subjects.
Lienhard studies the painting and the songs from many angles. His
expert knowledge of Nepal in its many aspects makes this work an
important contribution to the study not only of the Newari songs but
also of the religious history of Nepal.

4 Jansz Crescent J.W. DE JONG

Manuka ACT 2603 Australia

Gavin Flood, An Introduction to Hinduism. Cambridge, Cambridge

University Press, 1996. xviii, 341 pp. $35.00 hardback, $12.95 paper-
back.

This book is primarily aimed at students taking humanities courses at

university level and should be assessed accordingly. On this basis it
may be said largely to have succeeded in its aim, although some aspects
are more successful than others and in particular the use of diacritics is
very haphazard and liable to mislead any student who actually tries to
make sense of the terms. In general the book is stronger on the more
modern aspects than on the early period and, as one might expect from

Indo-Iranian Journal 41: 78–82, 1998.

 REVIEWS 79

the author’s own research interests, the chapter on Saiva  and tantric
religion is handled in an assured manner.
Flood adopts an approach that is both thematic and historical, which
leads – as he acknowledges – to a certain degree of repetition, which
is not excessive, however, and does help to reinforce significant points.
The pedagogic intent is in fact most apparent in the brief summaries
at the end of each chapter recapitulating the topics covered. The first
chapter, called ‘Points of departure’ begins by asking what Hinduism is
and lists some of the general features of Hinduism in a helpful fashion,
emphasising that practice takes precedence over belief, that the tension
between dharma and moks. a is reflected in the different realms and goals
of the householder and the renouncer, and that the interplay between
brahmanical and popular traditions is a continuing feature. The chapter
ends with some remarks on the chronology of Hinduism, including an
outline chronological scheme, as follows: the Indus valley civilization
(c. 2500 to 1500 BCE), the vedic period (c. 1500 to 500 BCE), the
epic and puran. ic period (c. 500 BCE to 500 CE), the medieval period
(c. 500 CE to 1500 CE) and the modern period (c. 1500 CE to the
present). Its thousand-year intervals are neat rather than meaningful.
The second chapter, ‘Ancient origins’, is the weakest in the book,
although it does have its good points, such as a more extensive descrip-
tion of Vedic ritual (pp. 40–44) than is usual in a work of this type. On
the other hand it includes several inaccurate or poorly phrased state-
ments, such as that Mohenjo-daro and Harappa are ‘separated by 40
miles’ (p. 24 fin.), that Lothal is ‘near Ahmadabad in Rajasthan’ (p. 25),
with regard to the R . gveda that ‘each of its ten books was composed
by sages of different families’ (p. 37), that ‘the black Yajur Veda
comprises three books, the Taittrıya-Sam  the Maitrayan
. hita,  
ı Sam . hita

and the Kat. haka-Sam 
. hika’ (p. 37). Also, there are better authorities
than Shafer to quote on the introduction of iron (p. 33 init.); this is
a regrettable lapse in what is otherwise a good feature of the book,
the way in which it introduces the reader to the significant secondary
literature.
The third chapter, ‘Dharma’, traces the development of the
concept from the Kalpasutras  onwards, through a clear outline of
varn. asramadharma and some comment on gender roles to a discussion
of kingship. The fourth chapter then takes up ‘Yoga and renunciation’,
providing a generally helpful account of the topic, though with some
minor flaws. Patan~jali as the systematiser of Yoga is assigned to the 2nd
century BCE (p. 76), whereas the Yogasutra  is called Patan~jali’s and
dated ‘between 100 BCE and 500 CE’ (p. 96), and it would have been
80 REVIEWS

helpful to student readers to make some further comment to resolve

the apparent contradiction. More trivially, the spelling aum is given
first (but without mentioning the threefold identification) and only at
the end do we find that brahman ‘is identified with the sacred sound
aum or om . (called the pran. ava)’ (pp. 83–84). However, it is highly
questionable to assert that the Nagas ‘since the seventh century CE
have been warrior-Ascetics, protectors of the Dasanami tradition’ (p. 93,
with Nagas correctly here, but Nagas on p. 91).
The next two chapters outline ‘Narrative traditions and early
Vais. n. avism’ and ‘The love of Vis. n. u’. After summaries of the
Mahabh  arata
 and the Ram ayan
 . a and some remarks on the Puran . as,
chapter five then looks at the cults of Kr. s. n. a and Narayan. a, the Pancaratra,
  ~
Vaikhanasa and Bhagavata movements and the Bhagavadgıta,  while
chapter six traces the rise of emotional bhakti from the Alv   ars to the
Ramanandins. The statement that ‘the Tamil deities Mudvalan and
Tirumal became identified with Vis. n. u and Siva’  (p. 129) would have
been clearer if one pair had been reversed so that the names are in the
same order; as it stands, it is potentially confusing to the novice. Also,
Ayodhya is inexplicably placed in Andra Pradesh (sic, p. 145 fin.) and
the Ramnagar Ramlıla is perhaps given excessive prominence (pp. 108
and 146).
In Chapter seven on ‘Saiva  and tantric religion’, Flood shows his
abilities to best advantage, bringing greater clarity to the origins of

Saivism than is usual in general works, including the provision of
a useful chart of the development of the Saiva  traditions (p. 152).

However, he writes that the Svetasvatara Upanis. ad ‘was composed
around the fifth or fourth centuries BCE’, which is earlier than most
scholars believe (and none is cited, while the book was obviously
completed before publication of the recent arguments advanced by
Thomas Oberlies in WZKS for a substantially later date). Also, mention
of three stages in Pasupata practice (pp. 156–7) ought to have been
qualified by adding that the Pasupatasutra  distinguishes five. The next
chapter on ‘The Goddess and S  akta traditions’ also includes a chart of
developments (p. 180) and provides an excellent sketch of S  akta tantric
worship, again showing Flood at his best.
The treatment of Hindu ritual in Chapter nine is welcome and would
have been more so if various flaws had been eliminated. Almost at the
start sam  is defined as ‘constructed’ or ‘put together’, as though
. skara
it were sam . skr. ta (p. 201), while soon after a general belief ‘that the
birth of a son enables a generation of ancestors to pass over from
the intermediate realm into the world of heaven’ is ascribed just to
 REVIEWS 81

the Aiyars (p. 203). The presentation of marriage as a major rite of

passage for women is rightly qualified by mention of the South Indian
pattern of cross-cousin marriage but might also have included some
comment on the importance in the south of female puberty rituals, as
shown for example in Antony Good’s The Female Bridegroom. The
statement, with regard to temple car festivals, that ‘the processed icon
is sometimes distinct from the central icon installed in the temple’
(p. 211) is misleading, since the movable image is usually, probably
always, distinct from the fixed image (and is the origin of the many
South Indian bronzes, which could perhaps have been mentioned).
‘Hindu theology and philosophy’ is the subject of Chapter ten and,
although Flood warns that he will only deal with Sam . khya and Ved anta
out of the six systems (p. 232), in fact he does provide something here
on Yoga (pp. 235–6), as well as in Chapter four, and on Mımam . sa
(pp. 236–8), though ascribing the concept of apurva  to Jaimini rather

than Sabara. However, his treatment of Sam . khya includes a chart
of the tattvas (p. 233) which renumbers them without comment or
explanation, thereby obscuring a significant historical point. Flood
makes the interesting point that ‘Although Sa  nkara
_ is reputed to have

been a Saiva, the Vedanta tradition is a discourse broadly within the
parameters of Vais. n. avism’ (p. 246). Finally, Chapter eleven is devoted
to ‘Hinduism and the modern world’ which is partly concerned with
Hindu reform movements, partly with Hindu political nationalism, and
partly with Hinduism in the West; although this chapter contains several
worthwhile insights in the way that it links these, it also contains some
apparently rather peripheral material, such as that on the beginnings
of Indology (where for example Lanman, Whitney and Bloomfield
are mentioned but not Hopkins, who did publish on religion). The
concluding summary to this chapter highlights the points made earlier
about the opposing trends towards Hinduism as a global religion and
Hindu political nationalism.
Misprints are regrettably more frequent than one would like, especially
in a text book. They include, in addition to those already cited: Gujurat on

p. 25 1.4 (with Gujarat in the next line), Hiranyakesin and Sathapatha
each twice in the table on p. 38, Kaniska on pp. 51–52, sıks. a and
chan. d. as on p. 53 and again on p. 227, with<in> Hinduism on the
last line of p. 64, ruling of [or] warrior classes in the 4th line up on

p. 79, Indraprast<h>a on p. 106, Dam<a>yantı and Sakuntal 
a on p. 107
1.20, Naradiya for Narad  ıya on p. 110 1.5, an odd double error in
‘domestic beings (paisaca)’ at p. 112 1.21, Palavas and Pandeyas at
the foot of p. 113 (and Pandeyas also on p. 170), Kot.r. avai at p. 129
82 REVIEWS

1.16 (but Korravai correctly on p. 180), Ma<i>thili on p. 135, Mırabai

on p. 144 1.28, Pasupata Sutra  on p. 156 1.4, tırt. ha twice on p. 157
(also Bhiks. ayatana) and on p. 212 fin. (also as tırt. ha yatra), pasa for
pasa twice on p. 163, Sıtala for Sıtala on p. 178, Mammalapuram for
Mamallapuram on p. 182 (and Mahabaliduram on the map at p. 2),
principle text for principal text at p. 186 1.22, a string of errors – mainly
missing diacritics – in the list of sam 
. skaras on pp. 202–3 and also in the
list of festivals on p. 212, sapin. d. ikaran. a for sapin. d. ıkaran. a on p. 207
(and in note 17 on p. 297), arati lamp four lines from the foot of p. 209,
mahasmasana  at p. 214 1.8, Gayatrı at p. 222 1.12, Killingl<e>y at
p. 221 1.28 (and n. 43 on p. 299) and p. 302 1.1, anuman . a for anumana

~ ~ 
at p. 225 1.30, brahmajijnasa at p. 227 1.8 and -jijnasa at p. 237 1.2
and p. 239 1.6, saddarsanas at p. 231 1.10 (a bright student might think
that this had to do with sat, the real, rather than s. at. , six), parinama 
on the fifth line from the foot of p. 234, gunas at p. 235 1.1, Pur<v>a
on the third line from the foot of p. 238, Upadesasaharı for -sahasr  
ı
at p. 240 1.28, astika at p. 247 1.3, Plas<s>ey at p. 250 1.3, Colonel
Alcott for Olcott at p. 270 1.6, and Maharaj<j>i on the penultimate
line of p. 271. These misprints are then carried over into the index.
The twenty monochrome plates at the end of the volume have not
reproduced well and so add less than they should to its effect.
These are regrettable blemishes on what is in many respects an
excellent introduction to the complex and polymorphic entity that we
call Hinduism. Flood ranges widely in order to give some impression
of the whole but there is an overall cohesiveness to his treatment.
The weakest parts are not so deficient that they spoil the rest; the best
parts, especially the chapters on Saiva 
and Sakta aspects, with their
clarity of presentation, are well worth recommending to students. If the
misprints and the minor errors could be corrected in the first reprint,
any reservations about recommending it as a whole would disappear.

University of Edinburgh JOHN BROCKINGTON

Konrad Meisig, Erzahltechniken der Nayı Kahan

 ı, Harrassowitz Verlag,
Wiesbaden 1996, pp. 187, price not mentioned.

Critical attention has surrounded the “New Short Story” (Nayı Kahanı)
in Hindi from its inception in the late 1950s. In fact, New Short Story
writers themselves, from Mohan Rakes to Kamalesvar, from Rajendra
Yadav to Nirmal Varma, set the lines of much subsequent critical work

Indo-Iranian Journal 41: 82–87, 1998.