The Dance of Shiva: Fourteen Indian Essays

The Author Dr. Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy was born in Kent (England) in 1877. He lost his father when he was just two years old. He obtained B.Sc. in Botany and Geology from Wycliff College, England. He came to Ceylon in 1903 as the Director of Mineralogical Survey and Got Doctorate While Working there. He founded the Ceylon Social Reforms Society and Edited the Ceylon National Review. He extended his tours to India to living in an era of new understanding . His Art collections were presented to the Boston Museum in 1917 whereafter he was invited to be ‘the keeper of the Indian Section’ where he continued till his death in 1947. He possessed a scientific turn of mind and a rare insight. His opinions on Indian Art History have been basically accepted in spite of the inadequacy of the evidence then available. A study of his work is essential even today for an insight into the background of Indian Art.

Romain Rolland (1866-1944) was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature two years after Rabindrarnath Tagore did – in 1915 – for his already famous novel Jean Christophe. A musician and a pacifist, he was much attracted by Vivekananda’s Advaita and ideas of a World Religion, and, disturbed by the First World War, he decided to learn more and write about not only him but also his Master. He also wrote the life-stories of Leo Tolstoy and Mahatma Gandhi. For a while he worked with the Red Cross to serve the suffering. His literary writings set new Red Cross to serve the suffering. His literary writings set new trends in world literature. Romain Rolland’s reputation as an idealist and free-thinkers made him welcome all over the world.