Hinduism and Buddhism is the eleventh volume in the series of the Collected Works of Ananda K. Coomaraswamy in IGNCA’s publication programme. Originally published in 1943, the two essays are authoritative expositions of the teachings of these religions as understood by those who practiced them rather than as understood by scholars and comparative religionists who studied and viewed them from without. Coomaraswamy assumes that even the oldest forms of Hinduism were neither polytheistic nor pantheistic and that there is no doctrine of reincarnation, other that of the immanent God ‘who never become anyone’. Hinduism is the oldest of the surviving mystery religions whose formulations are essentially the same as those of Platonism Christianity, Taoism and other traditional doctrines. Buddhism is treated in a similar manner. The life of the pseudo-historical founder, the Conqueror of Death, repeats the original myth of the archtypal dragon-slayer. His doctrine–as he asserts very forcibly– is not his own but the re-opening of the ‘ancient path’. Buddhism is thus not a ‘new’ religion, but rather a reiteration, with different emphases, of the same teachings that are to be found in the ancient Vedas. This edition, much enlarged by incorporation of the author’s authentic revisions, will remain authoritative for many years to come.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anand K. Coomaraswamy
Anand Kentish Coomaraswamy, the greatest among the Indian Art-historians, was born in Colombo on August 22,1877. After graduating from the University of London, he became the Director of the Mineralogical Survey of Ceylon. Between 1906 and 1917, when he joined as the Curator of Indian Art in the Boston Museum he was busy lecturing on Indian Art and formed societies for the study of Indian Art. In 1938, he became the Chairman of National Committee for India's Freedom. His contributions on Indian philosophy, religion, art and iconography, painting and literature are of the greatest importance as were his contributions on music, science and Islamic art. He died on September 9, 1947.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Keshavaram N. Lengar
Keshavaram N. Lengar (b.1928) graduated from Bombay University with a B.Sc. and a Government Diploma in Architecture. He was also a student at the Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland, from 1948 to 1950. Starting his professional career as an architectural assistant at Madras, he was associated in the field of architecture for over 25 years with the Madras and Bangalore Universities. Later, he was Professor of Architecture at the B.M.S. College, Bangalore. An amateur Hindustani Khayal singer, lengar, is an exponent of the Gwalior Gharana of Hindustani classical music.
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