JCLA Vol. 43.1 Spring 2020 Review Namrata Chaturvedi

150 / JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE LITERATURE AND AESTHETICS this does not mean that there is no point in making more art. Instead, she takes Hegel to mean that our task, here at the end of art, is to find new ways to express and enshrine our subjective capacities for freedom; a task that is both conceptually enriching and inexhaustible. Art is, after all, one of the ways in which we reflect upon truth, as Moland writes. Moland’s book is both an excellent summary and exegesis of Hegel’s aesthetics. Clearly written, conscientious, and stimulating, it offers a systematic reading of Aesthetics while simultaneously redressing some of the lacuna within extant English-language scholarship. I can think of no better resource for English-language scholars interested in Hegel’s philosophy of art. Notes 1 2 Arthur Schopenhauer, On the Basis of Morality (Hackett Publishing, 2019), p. 15. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Arnold V. Miller, Hegel’s Philosophy of Nature: Being Part Two of the Encyclopaedia of the Philosophical Sciences (1830), Translated from Nicolin and Pöggeler’s Edition (1959), and from the Zusätze in Michelet’s Text (1847) (Clarendon Press, 2004), p. 14. RYAN MITCHELL WITTINGSLOW University of Groningen, The Netherlands EPISTEMOLOGY AND LINGUISTICS: BHARTÅHARI, STRUCTURALISM AND POSTSTRUCTURALISM. By Prabha S. Dwivedi. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2019. 192 p. P rabha Shankar Dwivedi’s Epistemology and Linguistics: Bhartåhari, Structuralism and Poststructuralism draws keen attention to the field of comparative linguistics wherein the significant propositions of four great philosophers and language theorists are examined at length. The title of this book clarifies the epistemological position of the study with the focus being the linguistic theories of the Indian grammarian Bhartåhari and the relationality of these theories to modern Western linguistic theories, especially the propositions and expositions of three leading Western language theorists - Saussure, Derrida and Lacan. The title is significant for the intervention it seeks to make in comparative studies, especially when the texts/theories are seen to emerge from the Eastern and Western traditions. The study of linguistics is epistemologically recognized as largely (sometimes exclusively) a product of Western literary and philosophical inquiry. Comparative studies, therefore, tend to situate themselves around the metanarrative of Western linguistics with the intention of highlighting the resonances of Eastern (Indian) theories in the grand narrative of Western theory. There are numerous examples of books, dissertations, college essays and seminar presentations that attempt to make a case for Indian theoretical paradigms by seeking approval from established Western models through echoes and resonances. In literary studies, linguistics, religious studies, political theories and largely in social sciences, this is a common trend. In this discourse, there are two incidences of epistemological damage that are evident. Firstly, the very attempt to recognize the validity of an Indian theoretical framework is undermined by the methodology of the study itself. Secondly, the contexts of emergence of the theoretical Journal of Comparative Literature and Aesthetics Vol. 43, No. 1, Spring 2020 [150-152] © 2020 Vishvanatha Kaviraja Institute, India BOOK REVIEWS / 151 frameworks are sometimes entirely overlooked, creating a false paradigm of global/ local in Western/Eastern theories. Dwivedi’s book seeks to correct these problems by making its position clear in recognising the general implications of Bhartåhari’s work with an awareness of the religious, literary and historical contexts of the formulations of his theories. While doing this, the general implications of Indian grammarian schools are established and the deep set and clear links that exist between this tradition and some modern linguistic propositions are highlighted. This methodology is rewarding for scholars of linguistics, literature and philosophy for many reasons but for Indian readers there are reasons more than one. It is well known and accepted that academic engagement is natural and desirable when the ideas are congruent with one’s lived experience. In revising the contexts of approach, this book is valuable and rare for students and scholars of linguistics and literature. The basic formulations of linguistic theories of structuralism and poststructuralism that are taught across universities through the work of Saussure, Derrida and Lacan are introduced through the work of an ancient Indian grammarian Bhartrhari whose propositions are philosophical, theological and linguistic at the same time. The misplaced notion of atheistic theories in literature and linguistics can be easily corrected by studying the work of Bhartåhari. Väkyapadiya is a theological and grammatical inquiry into the ontological makeup of truth and its relationship with language. The ontological inquiry into truth or the Word as Derrida undertakes centuries and geographies apart has been deeply studied with a more detailed and layered map of inquiry by Bhartåhari in the Sanskrit grammatical tradition. The impossibility of arriving at complete meaning through the word (differance) that Derrida proposes can be understood in the context of Christian theology wherein the absolute nature of truth (meaning) resides only with the Word of God and never with the word of man (human). The ‘differance’ is therefore not an atheistic proposition but a theological one. The theological contexts of inquiry are deeply embedded in Western linguistic and literary theories as that of Derrida, Marx, Freud, Schopenhauer, Wittgenstein, Nietzsche and many others. The dominant modes of engagement with these theories obfuscate the contexts of origin of the thoughts thereby creating another false paradigm of a-theistic/theistic and Western/Eastern models of thought. An engagement with Bhartåhari’s thought as designed in Dwivedi’s study will make the theistic nature of linguistic inquiry clear and easily understandable. The first chapter ‘Väkyapadiya and Poststructuralism’ introduces the contexts of Indian grammatical tradition and Bhartåhari’s place in that tradition. The development of linguistic inquiry from the Vedas through Päëini and Pataïjali to Bhartåhari is introduced in significant points in this chapter. Further, the development and continuity of inquiry through Western linguists like Saussure, Derrida and Lacan is also introduced in this chapter. In this and the three chapters that follow, basic concepts in Bhartåhari and Western linguistics are selected and discussed in a manner that makes the continuity appear natural and easy to understand. As the contexts of Indian grammatical tradition are well established and discussed in this chapter, if the scope of the book permitted, an introduction of theological contexts for the emergence and development of Western theoretical propositions would have opened up more directions in comparative studies. For instance, in the third chapter titled ‘Bhartåhari and Derrida’, as certain propositions of Derrida are examined, further contextualization can point to specific domains for theories thereby challenging the universality of certain theoretical frameworks. In this chapter, in the analysis of the ontological status of phenomenal reality with respect to conditions for 152 / JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE LITERATURE AND AESTHETICS being, contexts of perception and language value, there is a brief reference made to the Unitarian perspective. A more detailed discussion on the theological perspectives that are linked to these propositions would make the understanding congruent with the method in which Bhartåhari’s ideas are studied. It would be clearer why and how Derrida’s inquiry is inclined towards certain assumptions and how his conclusions are presented and tested. The method of Dwivedi’s study is carefully designed to introduce select propositions in linguistics, first through Bhartåhari’s Väkyapadiya and then naturally blending into modern linguistics. The three core chapters are neatly titled as ‘Bhartåhari and Saussure’, ‘Bhartåhari and Derrida’ and ‘Bhartåhari and Lacan’. In these chapters, significant linguistic concepts are analysed in a simple, accessible yet layered manner with the focus on the ideas and not qualitative value judgments on the theoreticians. The transition from Saussure through Derrida to Lacan is smooth and flawless given the complexity of Bhartåhari’s arguments and their relationality with these three theoreticians. From Saussure to Lacan, the continuity of formulations and the range of implications are neatly placed in the context of Bhartåhari’s work by Dwivedi. The methodology of quoting from Väkyapadiya to elucidate the concepts is enriching for scholars who are seeking to place the rich Sanskrit tradition of grammar and philosophy (vyäkaraëa and darçana). The chapter on Bhartåharian and Lacanian thought is unique and immensely rich. The relationship of reality, mind and language in poststructuralist thought and in the psychoanalytical propositions of Lacan are introduced firstly through Väkyapadiya that makes them contextual and therefore naturally understandable. The relationship between manifest world, impressions, memory and language that Bhartrhari expounds upon in Väkyapadiya appears complex and universally valid when seen in the context of modern linguistic and psychoanalytic inquiry. The comparative study of Bhartåharian and Lacanian propositions is truly rewarding for the reader. The paradigms of comparativist approach in linguistics as offered by Dwivedi’s book demand attention and engagement. The works of classical Indian philosophers, grammarians and literary critics are pertinent to scholarly inquiry and must be placed as such. The Orientalist baggage that Indian literature, philosophy and criticism have been carrying requires to be shed in order to identify refreshing approaches like this book offers. The discussions on central ideas in the complex language philosophy of Bhartåhari and the reassessment of these ideas in contemporary contexts of local as well as global lived experience is an approach that has been missing in scholarly work. In conclusion, it is important to recognise the possibilities embedded within comparative studies and the paradigms they offer to scholars and general readers alike. NAMRATA CHATURVEDI SRM University, Sikkim, India CATEGORIES, CREATION AND COGNITION IN VAIÇEÑIKA PHILOSOPHY. By ShashiPrabha Kumar. Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore, 2019. 187 p. S hashiPrabha Kumar’s reference book, Categories, Creation and Cognition in Vaiçeñika Philosophy, aims to help students and researchers study Vaiçeñika, one of Indian Journal of Comparative Literature and Aesthetics Vol. 43, No. 1, Spring 2020 [152-155] © 2020 Vishvanatha Kaviraja Institute, India