Book review: Dharmaketu , Saikat Kumar Basu

 

Book review: Dharmaketu

Saikat Kumar Basu 

 

Any book on religion or religious practices or religious studies is a challenge in itself. An author has to be extremely cautious to avoid making any major or minor mistakes or misinterpretations since religion is an extremely sensitive issue to deal with globally. Furthermore, an author attempting to explain the religious teachings, practices, iconic religious figures, history, ethnic background, archaeological and linguistic attributes of multiple global religions is a monumental task! In addition, if an author attempts to provide philosophical explanations of various religious practices in simple terms so that ordinary people can understand and appreciate the tenants of various global religions is indeed a very accomplished work that deserves special mention. 

Sumanapal Bhikkhu, a leading scholar of Buddhist studies and an expert of Pali language has accomplished the monumental task of explaining different global religions in simplest philosophical terms in his seminal work on the doctrine of religion in Bengali entitled Dharmaketu. The author who himself is a leading scholar and researcher of religious studies has included seven religions, namely Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism, Judaism, Islam and Christianity in his seminal work. The volume deserves immense praise to the fact that the author has not dedicated too many pages to any one specific religion. The author has been quite uniform and diligent in treatment of every global faith with utmost sincerity, dedication and respect. He has made every attempt to highlight the basic religious philosophy and doctrines as well socio-cultural practices to the best of his ability to make it easier for the readers to get a comparative idea of various global faiths. 

The most striking aspect of this seminal work is the simple Bengali language used by the author to explain very complex philosophical treaties of different religions under practice across the planet. The author has been as objective, unbiased as possible in treating different religions; abs has attempted his best to make sure that the religious doctrines reach the readers heart through simplistic explanation. It would have been appreciable if the author could have included separate glossaries of religious terms for every religion discusses in this volume to make it even more palatable for no ice readers enthusiastic about knowing basic principles of various religions. 

This seminal volume will be extremely handy to academics, researchers, students and practitioners involved with the various disciplines of Religious Studies, Comparative Religious Studies, Eastern and Western Religious Studies, Philosophy, History, Political Science, Archaeology, Social Anthropology, Sociology, Linguistics as well as Education, Public Administration and Law. The book can cater to both under graduate, post graduate level students, MPhil and PhD research scholars in the relevant field. Outside the academia and research world, this will serve as an unputdownable reading material for general readers and amateur researchers interested in deeper understanding of various global religions. I extend my sincere gratitude and heartiest congratulations to both the author and the publisher for coming up with this volume in a vernacular language like Bengali. 

This seminal work will fill in the gap and the demand among readers for a simple yet comprehensive text or reference book on comparative global religion studies. The author has been successful in producing this seminal work with multiple perspective that will cater to both serious researchers as well as enthusiastic readers interested in better understanding global religions and religious practices. Each separate chapter in this volume from cover to cover helps in guiding the readers through the narrow and complex passage of deep religious thoughts, philosophies and practices in a stepwise manner. The volume is truly a ready reckoner and a handy resource on global religions and faiths.  

The author has made extensive research work on each global religion and summarized various aspects in different sections and sub sections under each chapter dedicated to a specific religion. The sweetest aspect of this seminal work is the simplicity, originality and honesty in the treatment of individual religion both from the perspective of ancient and medieval periods to their relevance in the current modern time. Once again, I extend my heartiest congratulations to the author Dr. Sumanapal Bhikkhu in designing and producing this monumental piece of work from the perspective of a dedicated reader of religious texts and doctrine.