Brahma-Knowledge · 1 of 45

Editorial Note

The object of the Editors of this series is a very definite one. They desire above all things that, in their humble way, these books shall be the ambassadors of good-will and understanding between East and West—the old world of Thought and the new of Action. In this endeavour, and in their own sphere, they are but followers of the highest example in the land. They are confident that a deeper knowledge of the great ideals and lofty philosophy of Oriental thought may help to a revival of that true spirit of Charity which neither despises nor fears the nation of another creed and colour.

Context

This is the editors' framing for the Wisdom of the East series, founded in 1905 by L. Cranmer-Byng and S. A. Kapadia and published by John Murray. The series was Edwardian England's attempt to bring Asian classics into accessible English alongside the better-funded Sacred Books of the East (Max Müller's Oxford project). The phrase 'ambassadors of good-will' frames the books as cultural diplomacy — a noble impulse that also carried the era's confidence that the West was the natural audience for whom the East had to be translated. Worth keeping in mind as you read Barnett: he was a serious Indologist (Sanskrit chair at SOAS), but the Wisdom of the East format compresses, and the spelling 'Brahma' for Brahman, 'Atma' for Atman is period.Wisdom of the East series history; Whitfield, Wisdom of the East and the Reading of Sacred Books in Late Victorian England.

L. CRANMER-BYNG. S. A. KAPADIA.

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