The Collected Essays of Bimal Krishna Matilal, vol. 2: Ethics and Epics.

• Author: Olivelle, Patrick
• Position: Book review

The Collected Essays of Bimal Krishna Matilal, vol. 2: Ethics and Epics. Edited by JONARDON GANERI. New Delhi: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2002. Pp. vii + 445. Rs. $75.

This is the second of a two-volume collection of Bimal Krishna Matilal's papers edited by Jonardon Ganeri. The first volume, Mind, Language and World, was devoted to Matilal's considerable body of works dealing with philosophy, logic, and epistemology. The companion volume reviewed here, although called Ethics and Epics, deals with a sundry list of topics and can best be viewed as "miscellaneous," save for the fact that all the essays contain material relating to ethics or the epics.

Within the compass of this brief review it is impossible to present in any detail the twenty-nine papers included in this volume. They range from essays on Ramakrsna, to explorations of rationality and dharma, to peace and inter-faith studies, to karma and salvation. Matilal brings his usual acumen and insight into a wide range of issues of interest not just to scholars but also to the general public. Indeed, some of the essays in this collection were originally published in "popular" publications such as the Bulletin of the Rama Krishna Mission Institute of Calcutta and Our Heritage.

Of the many interesting papers here, I found those dealing with the elusive concept of dharma both profound and offering refreshingly new insights: "Moral Dilemmas: Insights from Indian Epics," "Elusiveness and Ambiguity in Dharma-Ethics," "Dharma and Rationality," and "Rationality, Dharma, and the Pramana Theory." The following quotation from the essay "Elusiveness" (1) shows that Matilal was a sensitive reader of history and saw the problems inherent in essentializing Indian religious history before "Orientalism" became a fashion and a fad. Referring to Weber's reflections on caste and karma, Matilal observes:

There was one component, caste, that was avowedly anti-rational in virtually sanctioning inequalities, and another that was a commendable expression of ethical rationalism, the karma component of dharma. I believe the story or history of Hindu thought has been the tension and reaction between these two opposite...