Songs of the saints of India . Texts and notes by Hawley John Stratton translations by Hawley J. S. and Juergensmeyer Mark. pp. xii, 244, illus. New York and Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1988. £24.00.

Abstract

Samadhirajasutra and the facsimiles of the Gilgit manuscript of the Vajracchedika Sutra have already been mentioned. If any more general criticism is to be levelled against the work it can only be on the grounds that, if it is intended to be an introduction to the complexities of textual studies, the result is perhaps too complex, and will leave beginners floundering, with the feeling that such studies lack principles, so that editors and translators are free to follow their own inclinations. It might have been better, particularly with regard to giving guidance as to the way in which individual readings are selected in a text, to have chosen works which were each accompanied by a critical edition, and to have persuaded the editors to explain how and why, and on what principles, they preferred one reading to another. Perhaps the editors of the series will be able to do this in a later volume.