The Wisdom of Ananda Coomaraswamy (Great Thoughts Selected from his writings, letters and speeches)

Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy (1987-1947) was one of the best minds that India has produced in the 20th Century. Son of a Tamil father and an English mother, his life was a living example on how to build bridges between Eastern and Western cultures.

By profession an art critic and a museum curator, Ananda K.Coomaraswamy was also masterful exponent of metaphysics. As much at home with Plato, Aristole and Aquinas as with Shankara and the other Vedic commentators, familiar with Scriptures of all the main religions and proficient in many languages, he used to teach metaphysical principles by explaining the symbolism of traditional works. In his writing coomaraswamy never display his vast knowledge for the sake of mere erudition, but rather uses his amazing scholarship for a well crafted plan: to show that below the endless variety of art forms and traditional beliefs a common thread runs deep -the acceptance of the sacred as the ultimate means to validate the multiplicity of every day experience.

This book is a compilation of quotations from his works and letters, and it constitutes a good introduction to his thought. His theories are here applied to concrete situations, related to the problems of modern India, and could still suggest a third way to avoid both the traps of modern technocracy and the temptation of fundamentalism. It should not surprise us that his views are still relevant to the present situation: his opinions are rooted in truths that are neither political nor historical, neither ideological, or simply religious, nor even merely intellectual. They are rather related to that inner wisdom that embraces, without crushing it, all the distinctiveness of human experience.

Note on the original edition
Introduction by W.N. Perry
Coomaraswamy, Ananda Kentish
Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy by S. Durai Raja Singam
Art and Life
Indian's Contribution to World Culture
The Wisdom of Coomaraswamy by S. Durai Raja Singam
Extracts from Fragmentary Notes for a Yale Univ. Lecture
Introductory: Gems of Thought
India and Ceylon
Education
India
Indian women
Anti-Nautch Movement
Sahaja
Folk arts
Swadeshi
Beauty
Art
Sculpture
Schools of Style of Indian Art
Rajput Painting
The Kangra School
Moghul Painting
Jaina Art
Persian Painting
Indian Colonial
Yakshas
Music
An Indian Musical Party
Jewellery
Folklore
Garlands
Costume & Ornament
Competition
Copyright
The Bhagavad Gita
Yoga
Religion
Hinduism and Buddhism
Reincarnation
Saiva Siddhanta
Dravidians
Siva's dance
Dance of Siva-Nataraja
Nataraja (Siva)
Shiva Ratri (Siva's Night)
Siva (Gangadhara)
Ganesha, Java
Durga
Figure of a Tamil Saint
Sundara Murti Swami
Pattini Devi
The Hindu Bronzes
Borobudur
Sri Ramakrishna
Sri Ramakrishna Maharishi
Sister Nivedita
Mahatma Gandhi
Rabindranath Tagore
Jawaharlal Nehru
Nandalal Bose
Uday Shankar
Vidyapati
Ravi Varma
Autobiographical
Finale
Key to Sources
Glossary of Some Indian word