2023-04-06 02:50:27 by ambuda-bot
This page has not been fully proofread.
FOREWORD
AN APOLOGY FOR CLASSICAL POETRY
THE Adyar Library has till now published only a few
volumes of religious literature.
The Ahirbudhnya
Samhita, a Pāñcaratra Agama, and the Samnyāso-
panişads were published by Dr. F. O. Schrader. Pandit
A. Mahadeva Sastri published four volumes of the minor
Upanişads with a commentary. The Adyar Library
has also published some booklets on philosophical
subjects.
The book now placed before the world, the epic
poem called Rukmiṇīkalyāṇa by Rājacūḍāmaṇi Dīkṣita,
is the first publication from the Library of a secular
character. In Sanskrit Literature, it is very difficult to
draw a clear line of demarcation between what is purely
religious and what is purely secular. What is usually
termed secular literature has a religious note running
through it; the aim of both religious and secular litera-
ture is identical-the attainment of perfect bliss; the
difference is not in the aim, but only in the method.
Further religious and philosophical works have a literary
value of a very high order. If we interpret the term
AN APOLOGY FOR CLASSICAL POETRY
THE Adyar Library has till now published only a few
volumes of religious literature.
The Ahirbudhnya
Samhita, a Pāñcaratra Agama, and the Samnyāso-
panişads were published by Dr. F. O. Schrader. Pandit
A. Mahadeva Sastri published four volumes of the minor
Upanişads with a commentary. The Adyar Library
has also published some booklets on philosophical
subjects.
The book now placed before the world, the epic
poem called Rukmiṇīkalyāṇa by Rājacūḍāmaṇi Dīkṣita,
is the first publication from the Library of a secular
character. In Sanskrit Literature, it is very difficult to
draw a clear line of demarcation between what is purely
religious and what is purely secular. What is usually
termed secular literature has a religious note running
through it; the aim of both religious and secular litera-
ture is identical-the attainment of perfect bliss; the
difference is not in the aim, but only in the method.
Further religious and philosophical works have a literary
value of a very high order. If we interpret the term