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Dear Anjan-Da,
I received you book �The Serpent Queen-Manasa�� the day before yesterday. I started devouring the book as soon as I laid my hands on it and I am not done with it yet. Please allow me to express my gratefulness to you for sending me a copy and my compliments to you on this well researched work.
From what I make of it, it provides an almost complete study of the Manasa�myth and its interpretations with respect to various scientific and philosophical ideas. My commenting on that work would be an act of impudence: I don�t think I am qualified for that: read and admire is all I can do.
As a matter of fact, I am aware of two more works reflecting on the interpretation of the Vedas in view of present day science and philosophy. One of them, by the late Sankaracarya Jagadguru Bharati Krsna Tirtha, is �Vedic Mathematics�. It basically tries to prove that the solution to most of the modern day mathematics including Calculus, Number Theory, Combinatorics etc. can be actually derived from the Vedas and that too in a much easier fashion. Of course, the response it has received from the mathematics community has been ambiguous: eminent Indian mathematicians like Prof. J.N. Kapoor hold the view that the work is nothing but a manipulation of numbers in special cases; something like mental arithmetic. Another one is �Fountainhead of Knowledge� (I can�t remember the name of the writer). It basically dwells on the fact that the basic principles of science and mathematics can be reduced to certain Vedic �sutras�.
My personal view of the Vedas and Upanishads is that they are not Mathematics and Engineering textbooks; they are not out and out religious books either (esp. the Upanishads). They are books on speculative philosophy; very profound and inquisitive at that. Now any science or engineering is a philosophy too but a little different kind of philosophy: what I like to call, �practical philosophy�. The Vedas being an all-encompassing philosophy, they have speculated on, rather than deduce, the scientific problems. And to their credit, they have deduced a very accurate structure. That, I guess, is the very reason why it seems that most of the sciences and modern day philosophy can be reduced to Vedic principles.
The uniformity of Mythical themes around the world and their manner of spread, as far as I know, is pretty well studied both by Oriental and Western scholars. Joseph Fontenrose, in his book �Python: A study of Delphic Myth and its Origins� studies the myth of Vritra and Indra. As a matter of fact, he was studying the myths all over the world that are related to serpents and their cousins (figurative) the dragons. The myths he studied are the Delphic Apollo-Python myth; the Zeus-Typhon myth and the myths of Vasuki, Tiamat, Yamir, Yam-Mot, Ketos-Medusa, Drakon, Geryon-Cacus, Acheloos-Nessos, Grendel-Firedrake, Fafnir, St. George�s Dragon and many more. He does it in a very scientific way; separating the myths on various parameters as regards the background and the plot. If you are interested, I would be glad to scan the contextual pages and mail them to you.
Your comparison of the life-force to springs is really unique and interesting. I have also seen serpents and dragons being compared to springs (as in water springs...not watch springs) and they provide a very good parallel.
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Please don�t consider what I have written as a commentary on your work; it is just some reflections on your subject and very personal ones at that. [............]
My congratulations to you again on a very well researched work. Hoping to hear from you pretty soon.
Yours, Syamanta
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dated 15th sept. 2003
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Hi Anjan:
Hearty congratulations on the publication of your scholarly work The Serpent Queen-Manasa. And thanks much for sending me a copy. The book looks attractive. Nice cover design too. I like the serpent wheel a lot.Harvey Liu did a great job of synthesizing Tantra ( the serpent wheel) imagery with contemporary Bengali imagery ( the eye and face)
It will be a while before I can read and grasp all of what the book deals with though. As you can imagine, for someone like myself it is all very Greek, and hard too :-). But I give you a lot of credit for the obviously intense and long running research you must have had to go thru.I hope to learn a lot.
Fort those who might be interested, is the book available thru Amazon.com by any chance?
Best,
c
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