Select Contents of the Oriental Journals
Summary
The final section of the volume provides abstracts of notable articles recently published in various oriental journals. It functions as a bibliographic survey designed to acquaint readers with current scholarship across Indology, philosophy, religious studies, linguistics and history. Under the heading ‘Select Contents of the Oriental Journals,’ summaries are arranged by source. Entries from the Adyar Library Bulletin include a discussion by J. A. B. van Buitenen on the Śubhāśraya Prakaraṇa of the Viṣṇupurāṇa and the meaning of bhāvānā, K. Kunhan Raja’s outline of Ānandavardhana’s theory of poetic suggestion, Anjali Mukhopadhyaya’s exploration of the transformation of the Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī into a Buddhist deity, Ratna Chandra Agrawala’s study of sculptures of Durgā Mahīṣamardinī from Rajasthan, V. Raghavan’s note on quotations in the Bhāvaprakāśāna of Śāradātanaya, Siva Prasad Bhattacharya’s examination of the Yogavāsiṣṭha’s conception of divine worship, Alain Daniélou’s translation of the Devī Upaniṣad, and Ronald M. Smith’s study of the story of Ambā in the Mahābhārata. From the Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies there is a paper by T. Burrow on the Vedic root īś‑ interpreted not just as ‘to eat’ but in a wider sense of thriving. The Journal of the American Oriental Society features A. L. Basham’s dating of the end of Kumāragupta I’s reign, while the Journal of the Annamalai University includes essays on Śaiva Siddhānta and the concept of dharma in the Rāmāyaṇa. Other journals surveyed comprise the Journal of the Greater India Society, the Journal of Sri Venkateswara Oriental Institute (with articles on solipsism and methods of Vedic interpretation), and the Journal of the University of Poona (with papers on Kabir’s philosophy, comparisons between the Mahābhāṣya and Kāśikā, the history of Telugu, and the meaning of vyāpti in philosophy). Brief notes also mention studies of religious conditions in Central Asia from the Niya documents, commentaries on classical Sanskrit texts, and analyses of dharma and soteriology in the Bhagavadgītā. Collectively, this section offers readers concise overviews of diverse scholarly contributions and encourages them to seek out the full articles for more detailed study.
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Conclusion
By collating abstracts from a wide range of oriental journals, the section underscores the vibrancy and breadth of contemporary scholarship on South Asian and Buddhist traditions. Readers are introduced to topics spanning grammar, poetics, epigraphy, art history, philosophy and theology. Such synopses not only serve as a research guide but also highlight interdisciplinary connections, reminding scholars of the value of engaging with literature across subfields to gain a holistic understanding of the region’s intellectual history.