It is always a pleasure to discover new books from displays put up by small publishers at major bookfairs. . While picking up this book at the Kolkata Bookfair this year , I was more attracted by the cover design and yes of course the title of the book . However I was expecting this to be another complex , esoteric,difficult to understand –kind of book . But I was in for a pleasant surprise. Parashpathar Prakashan has done a wonderful job by bringing out a Bengali translation of Dr Negi’s work on the Dhammapada . Reading this much revered spiritual text of Buddhism in Bengali was a wonderful experience. Mr. Das’s translation is lucid and extremely easy to read. For ordinary human beings trying to make sense of the chaos around him a book like this can provide some direction to his confused inner world .
Dalai Lama in his foreword says ‘The Dhammapada is a handbook of practical ethics, that may be of interest or benefit , whether you are a Buddhist or not. …a disciplined mind leads to happiness and an undisciplined mind leads to suffering. The Dhammapada describes a path of ethical behaviour that is a feature of this kind of inner discipline that leads to happier life.'
The Dhammapada is a collection of Buddha's sayings in verse form . The language is Pali /Prakrit which has its roots in Sanskrit. It is believed that the each verse is related to a specific situation in Buddha's life and times . Dr Negi’s original book in Hindi was published and distributed free to people at large. Mr. Das was one such recipient who sought permission to translate Dr Negi’s edition into Bengali. I can only thank him for doing so . Each verse is followed by a brief story and a simple commentary. Most of us are familiar with some of the stories linked to Buddha’s teachings to his followers. One of my favourites is that of the lady named Kisagotami who lost her son and roamed around grief stricken with her dead son's body . Someone took her to Buddha and she asked him to bring her dead son back to life. Buddha agreed to do so only if she could fetch him a handful of mustard seeds from a family that has not known death. The book is full of such fascinating stories. The book can be read if not for anything else then just for its easy to understand collection of stories which illustrate the eternal truths of life.
While reading the book I once again rediscovered some of the stories which have lived with me from my schooldays. Today when I am re- reading them it is a different experience since life’s sufferings, setbacks, betrayals and moments of joy and happiness have already coloured my perceptions of life. While I can agree with most of the concepts some can appear alien in today’s context. What I feel Dr Negi has been able to achieve is to provide a commentary on the concepts in a manner suitable for contemporary readers. The Bengali translation is equally good to hold the attention of ordinary readers like me.
