Proverbs - Ancient Indian nyaayas
You may know the proverb of "the blind men and the elephant," or the illustration
of blind leading the blind, or the popular saying,"Killing two birds with
one stone." But do you know the origin of these words of wisdom? Many of the
popular proverbs in America are adaptations of ancient Indian nyaayas. There
are also many interesting Indian proverbs and sayings that never became widely
known in the West.
One hundred years ago, Colonel G. A. Jacob, a British military officer, compiled three books of Indian nyaayas called "Handfuls of Popular Maxims Current in Sanskrit Literature." The books discussed the sources and meanings of 485 proverbial sayings. However, Jacob's three "handfuls" were three separate entities, containing a sparse and hard-to-follow index. The nyaayas were not arranged alphabetically, or in any logical order, and there was no table of contents. It was especially hard for readers who were unfamiliar with Sanskrit to look up anything in the book, since the index and the nyaaya headings were written in Sanskrit. An attempt was made by Pravesh Chaturvedi (Niiraajanaa Publishers & Booksellers) to unify the three parts into one, but the result was no better than the originals. Instead of combining the nyaayas logically, or even in alphabetical order, the publishers simply slapped all three books back-to-back under one cover.
We have corrected the book's flaws, and published the finished product LNJ on our web site, select the button "Publications". We have combined Jacob's three parts into one comprehensive unit. We have edited the book for errors in grammar and spelling, and transliterated the Sanskrit sections into Romanized characters, so as to make it easier to read and understand. An extensive index containing both English and Sanskrit names and subjects has yet to be created. Also, there will be a list of citations and a section for further reading. That way, not only this book, but many other ancient texts will be more widely available. You will have a world of wisdom at your fingertips, if you have the "Handful of Popular Maxims" in your hands.
TULIP: The Universal/Union List of Indian Periodicals
TULIP is the most exhaustive, systematic, and authentic bibliographical record of India's periodical publications - the embodiments of her cultural heritage, preserved and being served in India, England and America. It represents an investment of more than a million dollars in terms of money, twenty years of hard labor (truly a labor of love) and a high level of energy and perseverance that cannot be measured.
Tulip comprises ten bouquets (volumes), 10,000 blossoms (entries) and 2,000 leaves (pages). It is a product of modern computer technology and has been acclaimed as an unparalleled production in the world. It contains detailed bio-bibliographical and cataloging data for 10,000 periodicals of Indian origin, drawn from 50 international bibliographical sources and extensive field work in India. It covers periodicals as well as serials - extant as well as extinct - in the humanities, social sciences, natural and physical sciences and the generalia.
And yet TULIP is not a mere conventional union list. It is a union list as well as a directory. It is the master union catalog of union catalogs. It locates periodicals from Indian subcontinent preserved and being served on three continents: Asia, Europe and America. TULIP is helpful not only for research and reference, but also for selection, acquisition, cataloging, inter-library loan, collection development and cooperative acquisition programs. It is an incomparable compilation, the first of its kind in the bibliographical world.
TULIP derives its supreme value not so much from the universality of its unique contents as from its fundamental creative concept. It propounds a new theory - an innovative methodology for collecting the data and featuring them. It presents a new prototype, a new matrix, a new mold. It can serve as a model for the preparation and publication of a union catalog anywhere in the world, on any subject, with ease, economy, efficacy and efficiency. It is a friendly guide. It tells what to do, how to do it and what not to do. TULIP has tackled some of the most baffling problems of the compilers of Union lists.
That TULIP has been enriched with a comprehensive, systematic subject index (in 2 bouquets) is not as significant as the fact that it has been automatically derived through a data-entry system already imbedded into the structure of TULIP
The introduction to TULIP SUBJECT INDEX claims:
"What was not possible in New York, what is still only a dream in London, has been made possible in Columbia, Missouri, thanks to the sagacious and gracious authorities of the University of Missouri. They have enabled the Project Directors of TULIP to maintain the leadership of America in bibliographical contribution in this field since, we believe, this subject index is the first of its kind."
Each bouquet of TULIP (there are 10 in all) expresses the following sincere appreciation:
"The long-range search and research on this 'Million Dollar Project' was partly funded by several grants from the Research Council of the Graduate School, University of Missouri-Columbia. In fact, the UMC has contributed more to the origin and growth of TULIP than any other agency or institution in the world.
It is a pleasure for us to record that many leading libraries of the world have acquired TULIP. Among them an honorable mention may be made for the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and London in England; Heidelberg, Tuebingen and Goettingen in Germany; Aalborg in Denmark; Baroda and Mysore in India; Jerusalem in Israel; Oslo in Norway; the University libraries of California, Chicago, Columbia, Duke, Harvard, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin in the United States; and the Australian National University in Cannebera. This library deserves a special mention because it has acquired ALL of our publications. Many libraries have acquired sets of TULIP through their own standing vendors, so we cannot even enumerate them.
For further information, please write
to: International Library Center 1405 St.
Christopher St. Columbia, MO, 65203-2356
USA
PHONE: (573) 449-5871
TULIP (complete set over 2000 pages of text) is available online electronically or printed (acid-free paper, durable up to 700 years) through the Special Collections at Ellis Library.
This website and the publications presented
within are the property of
the University of Missouri of Columbia
and Dr. Murari Lal Nager