A History of Indian Philosophy, Vol. 1 | Page 3

many works on the subject
have already been published in Europe and those who wish to go into
details will certainly go to them. I have therefore limited myself to the
dominant current flowing through the earlier Upani@sads. Notices of
other currents of thought will be given in connection with the treatment
of other systems in the second volume with which they are more

intimately connected. It will be noticed that my treatment of early
Buddhism is in some places of an inconclusive character. This is
largely due to the inconclusive character of the texts which were put
into writing long after Buddha in the form of dialogues and where the
precision and directness required in philosophy were not contemplated.
This has given rise to a number of theories about the interpretations of
the philosophical problems of early Buddhism among modern Buddhist
scholars and it is not always easy to decide one way or the other
without running the risk of being dogmatic; and the scope of my work
was also too limited to allow me to indulge in very elaborate
discussions of textual difficulties. But still I also have in many places
formed theories of my own, whether they are right or wrong it will be
for scholars to judge. I had no space for entering into any polemic, but
it will be found that my interpretations of the systems are different in
some cases from those offered by some European scholars who have
worked on them and I leave it to those who are acquainted with the
literature of the subject to decide which of us may be in the right. I
have not dealt elaborately with the new school of Logic (Navya-Nyâya)
of Bengal, for the simple reason that most of the contributions of this
school consist in the invention of technical expressions and the
emphasis put on the necessity of strict exactitude and absolute
preciseness of logical definitions and discussions and these are almost
untranslatable in intelligible English. I have however incorporated what
important differences of philosophical points of view I could find in it.
Discussions of a purely technical character could not be very fruitful in
a work like this. The bibliography given of the different Indian systems
in the last six chapters is not exhaustive but consists mostly of books
which have been actually studied or consulted in the writing of those
chapters. Exact references to the pages of the
xi
texts have generally been given in footnotes in those cases where a
difference of interpretation was anticipated or where it was felt that a
reference to the text would make the matter clearer, or where the
opinions of modern writers have been incorporated.
It gives me the greatest pleasure to acknowledge my deepest
gratefulness to the Hon'ble Maharaja Sir Manindrachandra Nundy,
K.C.I.E. Kashimbazar, Bengal, who has kindly promised to bear the

entire expense of the publication of both volumes of the present work.
The name of this noble man is almost a household word in Bengal for
the magnanimous gifts that he has made to educational and other
causes. Up till now he has made a total gift of about £300,000, of
which those devoted to education come to about £200,000. But the man
himself is far above the gifts he has made. His sterling character,
universal sympathy and friendship, his kindness and amiability make
him a veritable Bodhisattva--one of the noblest of men that I have ever
seen. Like many other scholars of Bengal, I am deeply indebted to him
for the encouragement that he has given me in the pursuit of my studies
and researches, and my feelings of attachment and gratefulness for him
are too deep for utterance.
I am much indebted to my esteemed friends Dr E.J. Thomas of the
Cambridge University Library and Mr Douglas Ainslie for their kindly
revising the proofs of this work, in the course of which they improved
my English in many places. To the former I am also indebted for his
attention to the transliteration of a large number of Sanskrit words, and
also for the whole-hearted sympathy and great friendliness with which
he assisted me with his advice on many points of detail, in particular
the exposition of the Buddhist doctrine of the cause of rebirth owes
something of its treatment to repeated discussions with him.
I also wish to express my gratefulness to my friend Mr N.K. Siddhanta,
M.A., late of the Scottish Churches College, and Mademoiselle Paule
Povie for the kind assistance they have rendered in preparing the index.
My obligations are also due to the Syndics of the Cambridge University
Press for the honour they have done me in publishing this work.
To scholars of Indian philosophy who may do me the honour of reading
my book and who may be