White Umbrella : Indian political thought from Manu to Gandhi
- London University of California Press 1953
- 205p.
THIS BOOK has been written to provide the Western reader with a concise survey of Hindu political ideas. Various works have been published by Indian scholars, but these erudite studies have generally been written for Indian readers or Orientalists, and deal with rather specialized fields. Although there are several American publications onn Chinese political theory, the Indian field has been largely neglected in this country. The plan of the present work is to construct a brief analysis of Indian thought together with a series of selections from the Hindu political classics. This is not a history of the origin and development of ideas, but rather a presentation of the landmarks of the Hindu political tradition as seen by Indians themselves. No claim is made that these elements were fixed and unchang- ing. Such studies as Ghoshal's History of Hindu Political Theories and Kane's monumental History of Dharmašāstra have indicated a long evolution. But the ideas presented here are those which have been most persistent in historical times. There is considerable semantic controversy over the terms "Indian." "Hindu," "Hindi," etc., which is beyond the scope of this work. Although "Hindi" has been suggested as a more fitting word than "Hindu" (Nehru, Discovery of India, p. 65), the latter has become established in Western usage. In these pages (except in occasional specific context),