About the Book It is a sheer coincidence in the evolution of Spanish language that in its formative stage as a Neo-Latin vernacular, it was permeated by Arab culture. In fact, those were the times when Islam had its political and cultural hegemony over almost the whole of the Iberian Peninsula. Elements of the cultural subterfuge emanating from India got ingrained in the Spanish psyche and found expression in the vastly complex area of Spain's fascinating literature, enriching its Greco-Latin heritage. From then onwards, many Spanish writers came under the sway of Indian thought and civilization in its myriad manifestations and the author has meticulously gone about his task of discovering those aspects of India, specially concerning its philosophy, religion, history, society, language and literature which have influenced Spanish literature.
This work will no doubt enthuse the future generation of specialists and researchers in an important area which has so far remained precariously virgin.
About the Author Dr. Enrique Gallud Jardiel, born in Valencia (Spain) in 1958 and now an Indian Citizen, is, at present, Associate Professor of Spanish and Chairperson of the Centre of Spanish Studies in the School of Languages, Jawaharlal Nehru University, which also happens to be his Alma Mater, from where he took the Master's and the Doctoral degrees.
With his profound knowledge of Spanish literature and his deep interest in India, he has been able to put forth a special point of view which adds a new dimension to the inter-relation between the two great civilizations- the Indic and the Hispanic. He is the editor of the academic journal Hispanic Horizon and director of a theatre group which represents Spanish plays in the capital. He is also the author of the first bi lingual Hindi-Spanish and Spanish Hindi dictionary.
Preface This is not an exhaustive study of the presence of India in Spanish literature and philosophy. Such a study would be impossible to be carried out, due to its size and grade of difficulty. A joint effort by group of philologists, historians, philosophers and literary critics during a long period of time will be needed for a work to be considered as comprehensive.
On the other hand, I will be modest if I affirm that my work is not a mere narration of already knows facts. I have studied here several entirely new aspects of the theme, product of my own research, previously ignored. Perhaps I am in a privileged position between the two worlds I love, and this fact has enabled me to "discover", so to say, some un known fields: unpublished works about India and others which were not studied at all, as well as many philosophical affirmations and postulates which are directly related with Vedantic philosophy and which were ignored in a Christian society.
Introduction It was believed that India and whatever India symbolises was an enigma for the Western world until comparatively recent times. In my view this is an extremely simplistic con cept and an erroneous one, both in its formulation and im plications. India has never been totally isolated and there are historically proved facts which point out early trade between India and the Phoenicians in the Mediterranean Sea (in the 10th Century B.C.). The two countries that have benefited more from these contacts are Spain and Portugal, where Indian culture reach through the centuries in periodical waves.
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