A Critical Survey of Indian Philosophy

Indian philosophy contains an immense number of traditions, works, arguments and counter-arguments, so no single introductory work can do full justice to this subject. A great obstacle for non-Indian students is that the vocabulary of Indian philosophy is very specialized and translations to English concepts are bound to be more or less erroneous. Authors of introductory books have to walk a fine line in mixing translated concepts with original concepts, too much of either will render the book incomprehensible.Translation is the area where this book excels. Chandradhar Sharma's approach to translation is meticulous, consistent and effective. Concepts such as reality and cause are generally given in English, but always with the Sanskrit translation in parenthesis if the occasion requires it. More difficult concepts are often presented the other way around, with the approximate English translation in parenthesis. Highly important and specialized concepts, such as prakrti and purusa, are not translated but are explained in great detail. The clarity of this approach is admirable and the message is clear: there are some concepts which you need to learn from the Indian point of view in order to understand Indian philosophy.However, although the philosophical translation is excellent, this is still not an easy book to read. It is littered with sentences like "Taking his stand on the Brhadaranyaka, the Chhandogya and the Manukya, Gaudapada identified the Unborn and Non-dual Absolute with the Atman or Brahman or Amatra or Turiya or Advaita which can be realized by Pure Knowledge or Asparshayoga or Vaisharadya or Amanibhava" (p. 248). Learning to understand Indian philosophy requires dedication, and so does this book. But for the dedicated student, this is an excellent resource for getting acquainted with this vast topic, above all with its vocabulary. The ideas might seem incomprehensible the first time around, but the next time you read a book on Indian philosophy you will probably have a vague sense of familiarity.I do have one point of minor criticism also. I would have enjoyed some form of chronology and maybe brief philosopher biographies in this book, just to know in which centuries each philosopher and school of philosophy thrived and their social context. But on the other hand I appreciate the fact that the book is fairly short, and related information can of course easily be found from other sources such as Wikipedia with a little effort.

Arrived in a timely manner, looks perfect

good overview by a very respected Indian academic.

I have the paperback edition and have found this book quite valuable. But the Kindle edition has quality issues and I returned it for refund.(1) Numerous typos on each page.(2) Font size changes abruptly(3) The original text appears as an image. It is followed by the same text as non-image.The process that was used to convert this book to the kindle edition is flawed and makes for an unpleasant reading experience.

No matter how good the author is what's the point if you get half chapter printed and half unprinted? There are many unprinted left over pages. This is very disappointing. Not just one or two but more than 20 pages. Printing quality is way below average

If you have taken Philosophy as a subject in UPSC then it is a great book to understand. The **Language: lucid and simple. (English)**Would recommend go through the book completely and can google (if needed excess information)*** This book certainly can change your thinking, your behavior and thought process if read throghly.

The print is faded, too square, something like a book from 1980s. The cover of the book is also different than the pretty cover that's shown on this amazon page. I dont understand why the customers are deceived like this.The content is good, comprehensive and easy to understand even for a high schooler. Basic ideas about all well known Indian Philosophies.

If you try to erase any pencil marks on the page the ink is erased too. They have sent me a misprinted copy as well where almost the entire chapter of Jainism doesn't exist and in it's place Buddhism is reprinted. Absolutely terrible experience from MLBD, such antics weren't expected at all from such an old publisher.

This has very good content, totally justify the cost. If you are looking for something which can give you quite a deep understanding about Indian Philosophy in general, so I can assure you, it will overhit the expectations.