Paniniyavyakaranodaharanakosa — Paninian Grammar Through Its Examples, Vol.III.2: F. Grimal, V. Venataraja Sarma, S. Lakshminarasimham; Pub. by the Rashtriya Sanskrit University, Tirupati-517064. Rs. 680.
There are several commentaries on ‘Astadhyayi', the magnum opus of Maharishi Panini — the well-known Sanskrit grammarian of the 4th century BC — by eminent scholars such as Patanjali, Vamana, Jayaditya, and Bhattoji Dikshita. By way of explaining the sutras (aphorisms) and elucidating the grammatical process, these commentators have cited examples and counter examples. These illustrations acquire significance because they reflect the socio-cultural and socio-political conditions prevailing at the time and, for that reason, can be turned into a useful tool for a better understanding of the content and function of the Paninian grammatical system. The Rashtriya Sanskrit University has embarked on a huge project in collaboration with the French Institute of Asian Studies and the French Institute of Pondicherry to collect and present them in perspective. This volume lists, in a dictionary format, the examples (close to 1,450) given by Bhattoji Dikshita in the second half of the long section dealing with conjugated verbal forms of ‘Siddhantakaumudi'. In addition, 68 examples borrowed from the ‘Mahabhasya', the ‘Kasikavrtti', and the ‘Bhasavrtti' are provided.
The Alternate Nation of Abanindranath Tagore: Debashish Banerji; Sage Publications India Pvt. Ltd., B 1/I 1, Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area, Mathura Road, New Delhi-110044. Rs. 995.
A critique of the art of Abanindranath Tagore, the founder of a ‘national' school of Indian painting, commonly known as the Bengal School of Art, the book argues that his art, developed as part of what is called the ‘Bengal renaissance' in the 19th-20th centuries, was not just a normalisation of nationalist or orientalist principles but also a hermeneutic negotiation between modernity and community, geared toward the fashioning of an alternate nation, resistant to the stereotyping of identity formation of the nation-state. Well-illustrated with many of Abanindranath's creations, it also establishes that his art sought a dialogic social identity within the inter-subjective contexts of of locality, regionality, nationality and trans-nationality. Partha Mitter, notes in his foreword, that the “bold and imaginative approach to an alternative nationalist art history” proposed by Banerji “will, and must, generate intense debates on the nature of nationalism, modernity, art, class and identity.”
