Light from the Orient: Essays on the Impact of India's Literature in the West

by Tathagatananda

Asia was destined by the Providence to become the cradle of human civilization. Among the known old civilizations like the Egyptian, Mesapotamian, Incan, Mayan, Greek, Roman and others the one that bloomed on the banks of the Indus is today undisputedly acknowledged as the oldest. In it's chequered journey through the past several millennia,it's invaluable literary treasures were wafted to all directions, paving the way for the cultural growth in distant lands. Archeological, Historical and Indological probing has shed enough light on the contributions of Oriental thought on humankind in general. Will Durant the great historian, begins The Story of Civilization 'Our story begins eith the Orient, not merely because Asia was the scene of the oldest civilizations known to us but because those civilizations formed the background and basis of that Greek and Roman culture, which Henry Maine mistakenly supposed to be the whole source of the modern mind. We shall be surprised to learn how much of our most indispensable inventions, our economic and political organization our science and our literature, our philosophy and our religion, goes back to Egypt and the Orient.' This book is an illuminating sequel to the author's earlier well-researched Journey of the Upanishads'(available on-line with amazon)to the world at large.

268 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2005