Baksheesh and Brahman: Asian Journals - India (Campbell, Joseph, Works.)
by Joseph Campbell
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Book Summary Information
Author: Joseph CampbellEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2002-08-13
ISBN: 1577312376
Number of pages: 400
Publisher: New World Library
Book Reviews of Baksheesh and Brahman: Asian Journals - India (Campbell, Joseph, Works.)
Book Review: Fascinating
Summary: 4 Stars
This book comprises Joseph Campbell's private journals during his first visit to India. Before Campbell set off for India, he had already established a worldwide reputation in the field of Indian mythology through translating the works of Heinrich Zimmer. In 1954, he was awarded a fellowship to travel and conduct research in India for future publications on Indian mythology. In this book, which was not written for publication, but intended to be solely Campbell's private record of his journey, Campbell is confronted with the realities of India for the first time, and he is shaken to the core by how different India is from what he had been led to expect.
Campbell's stay in India lasted approximately 6 months, during which time he traveled extensively throughout the country. He started off the journey in the company of Swami Nikhilananda and several female devotees. Together with this troop, Campbell visited various Ramakrishna Missions and temples. Before long, however, he began to lose interest in this party, as he observed that the Ramakrishna Missions seemed to play a much smaller role in Indian society than he had ever imagined. He began to travel independently, visiting temples and talking to people he met along the way (mainly intellectuals, who were able to discuss philosophy in English). He also struggled to book a dance tour for his wife, Jean Erdman, a well-known artist of modern dance.
For the first three months of his journey, Campbell is so affected by culture shock that he is practically incapacitated. Although he had traveled widely in Europe, from the descriptions in these journals, he had no experience traveling in the Third World. He had a most un-adventurous palate, so he ate European food where it was available, and then complained mightily about its quality. His attitudes towards hotels and service were inflexible, and he seemed to lack the sense of humor and ability to let things slide that are essential for dealing with a culture that is completely alien to one's own. He is strongly patriotic and greatly dismayed by Indian criticisms of his own country.
The extent of his ignorance concerning Indian art is illuminated by his reactions to Indian dance. At the first Indian dance recital he attended, he was outraged by the fact that only he and another Westerner found the performance at all interesting. But instead of trying to understand why the Indians in the audience were not impressed, he was simply outraged that they didn't react the way he did. At the next recital that he attended, he noted that the Indian members of the audience seemed to have a separate set of values for judging the performance than his own. As he became more familiar with the classical dance forms by attending a few lectures, he gradually began to develop an appreciation for the art. When his wife arrived and began her Western modern dance tour, he seemed to expect Indians to approach this foreign dance form in the same way that New Yorkers or Parisians might, forgetting or being entirely ignorant of the role of dance in Indian society and the different set of aesthetic values associated with dance.
Nonetheless, the notes presented here are fascinating because in them, we can see Campbell coming to terms with Indian culture. Whereas before this trip, he imagined India as drawn for him by Krishnamurti, Nikhilananda, and Zimmer, he finally begins to build his own understanding of the culture during this journey. This understanding is colored not only by his visits to temples and conversations with philosophers, but also by the mundane struggles to book his wife's dance tour.
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