Prafullachandra Ray- A Biography (An Old and Rare Book)

THE BHARAT1YA V1DYA BHAVAN-that Institute of Indian Culture in Bombay-needed a Book University, a series of books which, if read, would serve the purpose of providing higher education. Particular emphasis, however, was to be put on such literature as revealed the deeper impulsions of India. As a first step, it was decided to bring out in English 100 books, 50 of which were to be taken in hand almost at once. Each hook was to contain from 200 to 250 pages.

It is our intention to publish the books we select, not only in English, but also in the following Indian languages: Hindi. Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. This scheme, involving the publication of 900 volumes, requires ample funds and an all-India organisation. The Bhavan is exerting its utmost to supply them. The objectives for which the Bhavan stands are the reintetzration of the Indian culture in the light of modern knowledge and to suit our present-day needs and the resus-citation of its fundamental values in their pristine vigour. Let me make our goal more explicit: We seek the dignity of man, which necessarily implies the creation of social conditions which would allow him freedom to evolve along the lines of his own temperament and capacities; we seek the harmony of individual efforts and social relations. not in any make-shift way, but within the frame-work of the Moral Order ; we seek the creative art of life, by the alchemy of which human limitations are progressively transmuted, so that man may become the instrument of God, and is able to see Him in all and all in The world, we feel, is too much with us. Nothing would uplift or inspire us so much as the beauty and aspiration which such books can teach.

In this series, therefore, the literature of India, ancient and modern, will be published in a form easily accessible to all. Books in other literatures of the world, if they illustrate the principles we stand for, will also be included.

This common pool of literature, it is hoped, will enable the reader, eastern or western, to understand and appreciate currents of world thought, as also the movements of the mind in India, which, though they flow through different linguistic channels, have a common urge and aspiration.

Fittingly, the Book University's first venture is the Mahabharata, summarised by one of the greatest living Indians, C. Rajagopalachari; the second work is on a section of it, the Gita by H. V. Divatia, an eminent jurist and a student of philosophy. Centuries ago, it was proclaimed of the Mahabharata: "What is not in it, is nowhere." After twenty-five centuries, we can use the same words about it. He who knows it not, knows not the heights and depths of the soul; he misses the trials and tragedy and the beauty and grandeur of life.

The Mahabharata is not a mere epic; it is a romance, telling the tale of heroic men and women and of some who were divine; it is a whole literature in itself, containing a code of life, a philosophy of social and ethical relations, and speculative thought on human problems that is hard to rival ; but, above all, it has for its core the Gita, which is, as the world is beginning to find out, the noblest of scriptures and the grandest of sagas in which the climax is reached in the wondrous Apocalypse in the Eleventh Canto.

Through such books alone the harmonies underlying true culture, I am convinced, will one day reconcile the dis-orders of modern life.

I thank all those who have helped to make this new branch of the Bhavan's activity successful.

Shri Monoranjon Gupta has undertaken a task which lies near the heart of the pupils of late Acharya Ray.

His close study of the life and writings of Acharya Ray is already available in Bengali. That admirable book has earned him well-merited praise among the lovers of Bengali literature. This is Shri Gupta's new venture. He seeks through the medium of English to reach a larger circle of readers.

Shri Gupta was a close associate of Acharya Ray when he was alive. He knows many intimate facts about him and has recently unearthed many interesting records yet un-published about Prof. Ray.

These have all been incorporated in this English version which will thus be a completely new reading of his life. The Acharya's name is a familiar byword here in Bengal. His saintly life is a beacon light to all who wish to dedicate their lives in the service of humanity.

I hope this book will find many more enthusiastic readers and converts to the Acharya's Ideology of Self-effacement and devotion to truth.

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