An Introduction to the Sacred Language of the Sikhs by C. ShackleReview by: Vijay GambhirJournal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 105, No. 4 (Oct. - Dec., 1985), p. 808Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/602809 .

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808 Journal of the American Oriental Society 105.4 (1985)

Modern Indian Mysticism is a sensitive and knowledgeable presentation of the religious teachings of seven of perhaps the most important Indian spiritual leaders of recent centuries. The book is an accurate and lucid summary of their thoughts and teachings, faithfully fulfilling the author's stated attempt. It can be recommended as a general survey of modern Hindu religious thought.

The crucial issue of what characterises each of the seven as a mystic is, however, inadequately discussed. Because a full elucidation of this central topic is wanting, the title of the work is misleading; and the reader may be disappointed to discover little if anything new. The work also requires a more extensive index.

KENNETH G. ZYSK

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

Medicine: Its Magico-Religious Aspects According To The Vedic and Later Literature. By G. U. THITE. Pp. 9 + 251. Poona: CONTINENTAL PRAKASHAN. 1982. Rs. 60.00.

The product of post-doctoral studies at the University of Poona, Thite's work attempts an examination of aspects of magico-religious medicine as phenomena rather of the re- ligious than of the scientific tradition.

Reading through the book's twelve chapters, one finds an exhausting collection of citations of passages grouped under categories which the author understands to be representative of both magic and of religion. One tries but fails to discover a proper definition of the author's ubiquitous, hackneyed ex- pression "magico-religious" as it applies to medicine. At its basis, the book wants direction and purpose. The author of the book's foreword, R. N. Dandekar, has even expressed serious reservations concerning his former student's method- ology (pp. 8-9).

Useful are certain references to passages of medical relevance contained in often obscure Sanskrit treatises. The scholar, however, is burdened by having to ferret them out from the overwhelming amount of insignificant data.

Poorly proofread, feebly indexed and devoid of any histor- ical methodology, Medicine: Its Magico-Religious Aspects puts too great a strain on the scholar. It nevertheless represents the beginnings of a potentially significant contribution both to the history of religions and to the history of medicine. One cannot help but think that the author was much too hasty in putting his work into print.

KENNETH G. ZYSK

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

An Introduction to the Sacred Language of the Sikhs. By C. SHACKLE. Pp. 207. New Delhi: HERITAGE PUBLISHERS.

1983. ? 6.00.

Shackle's An Introduction to the Sacred Language of the Sikhs is designed for individuals who wish to have access to the Sikh scriptures of 15th- 17th centuries. The book is divided into three parts: The Gurmukhi Script, Grammar, and Selected Readings. The readings are from the Guru Granth Sahib, the vars of Bhai Gurdas, and the janamsakhTs.

This book, after Shackle's A Guru Nanak Glossary, is another important contribution to the study of Sikh scriptures. It provides an excellent introduction to the medieval Panjabi used in the texts. The grammar section is graded and gives clear grammatical explanations. In the grammar section, each lesson includes transformation (e.g., transform X into Y) and translation (Panjabi-to-English) exercises. Shackle has given due attention to variation in the language, which is important for those who wish to work with medieval Indian languages. The author has noted variations not only in spellings but also in grammar forms. He has listed, for instance, not only the most common type of future form with -s suffix (karsam=I shall do) but, also the less frequent type of future form with -ga suffix (karaumga=I shall do). Also, his notes showing a comparison of the frequencies of different grammar forms used in the Guru Granth Sahib and janamsakhis are useful.

The section on Gurmukhi script is clear and self-explana- tory. The handwritten equivalents of the printed Gurmukhi alphabet are particularly valuable for those who intend to work with manuscripts, as some characters like i7, 'j', differ significantly in their printed and handwritten versions.

The readings in the book introduce a nice variety of styles in both prose and non-prose. The language of the Guru Granth Sahib is that of hymns-shaloks, shabads which were written for devotional musical performances. The janamsakhis, the hagiographies of Guru Nanak, are written in prose.

The book is well written and will undoubtedly be useful for many. The author, however, could have made this book useful for many more had he included keys to the grammar exercises, in which case the need for a teacher would be minimized. A self-taught course for the sacred language should be particularly useful in the west as competent scholars in the field are not easily found and there are few institutions (I guess!) that offer such a course.

VIJAY GAMBHIR

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

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