Faith Morality and Culture - Essays in Honour of Professor Haridas Bhattacharyya

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This volume of essays is the centennial tribute to Professor Haridas Bhattacharyya, an eminent scholar and thinker of the present century. The papers presented in this volume are by eminent scholars who are experts in their respective fields and have dwelt on subjects dear to the heart of Professor Bhattacharyya.

The essays of this volume fall into three natural groups : (a) Detailed and analytical treatment of the basic teachings of the major religions of the world; (b) Discussions of certain fundamental metaphysical and moral issues; (c) Discussion of some questions related to social philosophy.

These essays make a significant contribution to contemporary debates on the subject concerned and ably demonstrate the vitality and social relevance of abstract philosophical thinking of present day India.

Sreemati Usha R. Bhattacharyya, a Fulbright scholar and a Ph.D of Yale University, USA, was the Head of the Department of Philosophy, Bethune College, Calcutta. She also taught at the Post-Graduate Department of Philosophy, Calcutta University.

Hiranmony Banerjee studied at Calcutta University. Presently, he is Professor of Philosophy, Jadavpur University, Calcutta.

The birth centenary of Professor Haridas Bhattacharyya, an eminent scholar and thinker of the present century, was celebrated in a befitting manner in November, 1991 by his innumerable pupils, friends, relations and admirers. Two seminars on "The Foundations of Living Faiths" and "The Concept of Morality" were organised in his memory in collaboration with the Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Calcutta. Most of the papers presented at these seminars were of more than ephemeral interest and it was felt that it would be in the fitness of things to preserve those scholarly papers along with some more valuable essays on related topics in a commemorative volume to be published to mark the occasion. We are extremely happy to be able to redeem this pledge and bring out the pre-sent collection of essays by a body of distinguished scholars who are experts in their respective fields and who have all dwelt on subjects dear to the heart of Professor Bhattacharyya.

The essays of this volume fall into three natural groups. In the first group of essays, namely, those by Professor Sibajiban Bhattacharyya, Dr. Dipak Kumar Barua and Prof. Sukomal Choudhuri, Principal Somen Das and Professor Arun Kumar Mookerjee, we find, more or less, detailed and analytical treatment of the basic teachings of the major religions of the world. In this group, we may also include Professor J. N. Mohanty's discussion of the philosophical foundation of religion and Professor R. K. Dasgupta's critical exposition of Swami Vivekananda's theory of morality.

The interest of the second group of essays is metaphysical. Dr. Usha R. Bhattacharyya compares the ethical Idealism of Buddha and Heraclitus, Professor Pranab Kumar Sen defends objectivity of secular morality and Professor J. L. Shaw explains, in contemporary Western idiom, the classical Nyaya theory of causality.

The essays by Dr. Puspa Misra, Prof. Hiranmoy Banerjee and Sree 0. K. Ghosh constitute the third group with the focus on social philosophy. While Sree Ghosh explains how civilizations converge, Dr. Misra concentrates on a polyandrous society of the Himalayan religion and Prof. Banerjee examines some con-temporary theories of equality.

It should, however, be borne in mind that all the essays raise questions of profound philosophical importance and there is considerable overlapping in their treatment of problems, showing an underlying unity of approach. They all make a lively contribution to contemporary debates on the subjects concerned and ably demonstrate the vitality and social relevance of abstract philosophical thinking of present day India.

Our warmest appreciation goes to all the contributors of this volume for their interest and co operation. Our deep gratitude is acknowledged to Sreemati Sujata Chowdhury who very kindly read the entire manuscript and gave some valuable suggestions.

Our thanks, too, for the fine work of our publisher "Sanskrit Pustak Bhandar" who have been most encouraging during the whole course of this book's printing and publishing. We are grateful to Ms Nilanjana Roy Chowdhury, for her help in preparing the manuscript..

**Contents and Sample Pages**