Review: The Bhagavad Gita - Dreamland Publications
During a recent trip to India I was looking for books for teaching young children about Hinduism. I came across a series of books, attractively illustrated, quite unlike anything I’d seen in Britain. These were made my a company called ‘Dreamland Publications’, and included books on important aspects of Hinduism, such as the Gita, Mahabharata, Ramayana and about the popular Deities. For this review I shall refer to their book on the Bhagavad Gita, which spanned some 79 pages.
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December 27th, 2007 at 11:18 am
Amar Chitra Katha series are very good too. They have full set of Ramayana and Mahabharata as well.
December 28th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
“Furthermore, the book suggests in several places that the Mahabharata war never happened; it is just a metaphor of life, the internal struggle.”
“But to actually say that the Mahabharata never occurred as if its fact is not material for children’s books, and is not going to inspire faith and interest in the study of the Hindu epics.”
Unfortunately this is not the only book that teaches the Bhagavad Gita as some made up story. There are many websites too.
The worst offenders are those who use the words Mythological to recall the life of Krishna.
Therefore I agree when you say “Overall I feel this book is dangerous (not to sound over dramatic) as young people will base much of their future opinions on influences they will pick up at a young age.”
The word mythology or myth has its etymological roots from the Indian Samskrit word `mithia’. Mithia in samskrit means `untrue’. Any text that has been termed as mythological by classification means that contents mentioned therein are untrue.
http://www.historicalrama.org/whatismyth.html
My opinions on the word Mythological
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hinduinfo/message/544
(May 2007)
December 28th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
I have made attempts to add my own commentaries to the first chapter of the Bhagavad-Gita in a very simplified language. If anyone is interested to read up
http://kiranparmar2.sulekha.com/blog/posts.htm
I cant say I am qualified in any way but these are just my interpretations and occasionally inspired by what I have heard and read.
December 30th, 2007 at 7:43 pm
It nice to have feedback on books from readers who have actually studied their subject.
May I please request the writer(s) to mail their feedback to the publishers - web link given below. There is a “Contact Us” on the web so please enter your feedback. Firsthand feedback are very useful and effective.
http://www.dreamlandpublications.com/
We at Hindu Sahitya Kendra (HSK) - 46 / 48 Loughborough Rd, Leicester stock some of Dreamland Publn books so we take note of the readers comments. However, we as sellers have no influence in what is already published, but feedback is useful.
HSK
0116 261 1303 (Mon to Sat 11am to 5:45pm)
January 7th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
Having only once just flicked through the publication in question, I do not deign to comment on the specifics of this book. However, with all due respect, I would like to comment more generally, if I may. The author appears to have two primary objections to the book, each of which I would humbly ask that I may briefly comment on..
1. It presents debatable interpretations as concrete fact.
I would be interested to know the author’s experience in education theory, as he/she seems to be making a number of assumptions, which I find myself doubting the accuracy of (interestingly, these assumptions are presented by the author as indisputable fact - “Hello Mr Kettle, this is Mr Pot calling - my, don’t you look black today!”)
Perhaps the author would do well to look back over his/her own educational history. Certainly I recall throughout my education that at each stage, ‘facts’ that had earlier been unquestionable truths were suddenly pulled out from under me as I learnt that things actually aren’t necessarily so simple. I don’t think any developmental psychologist worth their salt would try to argue anything other than that the young mind does not work well with abstracts and uncertainty - it needs concrete, black and white fact. Later, the knowledge networks so built up can be relatively easily remodelled and new information incorporated, such as areas of debate, etc. Suggesting that this should all be done in one go at such a tender age is frankly ridiculous.
Granted, there are very occasional gifted children who are able to handle this, but for the vast majority of us normal people, I hate to disappoint the author, but during children’s development, knowledge needs to be broken down into bite sized chunks, and I’m afraid that does sometimes mean telling kids that electrons go round a nucleus in pairs in circles, later changing that to electron ‘clouds’, moving on to different orbits, and finally breaking it to them that it’s all just a matter of probability and besides which, they’re both particles and energy anyway, etc. etc. (sorry, I’m not a scientist, but you get the picture!)
2. It implies that the Mahabharata is mythological.
Personally, I consider this a minor point, but since it has been raised, it is probably worth considering. As the author implies, there is indeed a substantial school of thought that says that the Mahabharata is a work of fiction, albeit a highly valuable and supremely instructive parable. This view is found even in many of the deepest of religious Hindu hearts. I personally may or may not agree with this particular theory, but that does not make it any more or less valid. I also personally believe, again as the author implies, that in actual fact, its historical veracity or otherwise in no way affects the value of the Mahabharata or Gita for us today.
However, coming again to education and development, my own view is that it would make far more sense to begin with introducing the Mahabharata to children as a factual, historical story, and then bring in the question of whether it is actually more myth/parable later. After all, we don’t start children off by telling them that Santa Claus doesn’t exist, and then bring in the possibility of him existing later on, so why in this case are we so keen to emphasise that it is not true? Children love stories, even more so if they can believe them to be true, and that excitement helps them learn and build interest, not just in that particular story, but in life more generally.
To summarise, I fundamentally disagree with the author on the issue of presenting interpretation as fact - that is what childhood education is all about, and personally I find this a positive thing. However, I certainly do agree with the author on the issue of presenting the Mahabharata as a ‘myth’ - regardless of the accuracy of this view or its actual (in my view) insignificance, on educational grounds if nothing else, it serves a far greater purpose for it to be initially presented as true, with any debate or uncertainty introduced at a later stage.
Incidentally, it is good to see HSK’s presence here - they provide an excellent service that I have used myself in the past, and I would readily recommend them to any in Britain who are looking for good quality Hindu literature.