Page:Folk-lore of the Telugus.djvu/156

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HINDU RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY.

THE MYSTICS. ASCETICS AND SAINTS OF t INDIA- By John Campbell Oman, Author of •'Indian ( Life, Religions and Social" etc. Fully illnstrated. Medium 8i'o., cloth. Rs. 10-8.

This work is in the main a study of Sadhuisra, the name Sadhn being applied in general to Hindu ascetics, monks, or religrious mendicants, without reference to their particular sects. It contains also incidentally some account o*" the faquirs, or ascebics who profess Islam. A great mass of information, which has hinherto been scattered in a number of books are in learned journals difficult of access is here brought within the reach of every one, and many new and interesting facts which have come within the author's personal experience are added, with tha result that a tolerably full accounr. has been presented in this volume of the peculiarities of the leading ascetic sects, such as the Yogis, Sannyasis, Bairagis, etc. The question of Indian miracle workers — a subject of perennial interest — is also discussed. In a concluding chapter, the author enters into a comparison of Occidental and Oriental ideals, the latter has especially exemplified by the prevalence of Sadhuisrn since remote antiquity, and attempts to estimate the probable influence of Hindu asceticism on the future of India. Dr. Oman's name is, of course, sufficient guarantee of the accuracy and scholarliness of the work and he has. succeeded in presenting matter sometimes of considerable difficulty, in so lucid and attractive a form, that the general reader can hardly fail to be interested.

POPULAR HINDUISM. Rs. 1-8.