First published in 1921, when the author was the British Ambassador in Tokyo, Hinduism and Buddhism provides a vivid historical sketch of the Hindu and Buddhist religions, an immense subject. In his introduction Sir Charles Eliot points to the real foundation of Indian thought: Here more than in any other country the national mind finds its favourite occupation and full expression in religion. This quality is geographical rather than racial, for it is possessed by Dravidians as much as by Aryans. From the raja to the peasant most Hindus have an interest in theology and often a passion for it. Few works of art or literature are purely secular: the intellectual and aesthetic efforts of India, long, continuous and distinguished as they are, are monotonous inasmuch as they are almost all the expression of some religious phase’. The reissue of this eminent book is an important event which will be welcomed by all who are concerned with Hindu and Buddhist religion and thought.
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