7 Sa courtoisie, sa dignité de vie, ses qualités de travailleur, avait fait l’accord sur son nom, d’autant plus que, très modéré et assez insignifiant en politique, il n‘avait pas d’ennemi personnel.

Dictionaire de la Troisieme Republique. Librairie Larousse.

8 Ruth Cranston, The Glory of Woodrow Wilson, p. 99.

9 George Reedy, The Twilight of the Presidency.

10 So perhaps was Woodrow Wilson towards the end.

9. The Kumkum Mark

1 Kumkum, sometimes called bindu. The sacred mark on the married women’s forehead.

2 Pauranic—of Purana, that is legendary history.

3 Chowk—a central square in a town. And Prayag is the ancient city where the Ganges and the Jumna meet. Prayag is now called Allahabad.

4 Drivers of two-wheeled cabs.

5 Sri Krishna: Mahatma Gandhi. He was ‘imprisoned’ at the Aga Khan Palace. Arjuna, one of the Pandava heroes—Jawaharlal Nehru. Draupadi, the queen of the Pandavas: Indira Devi, daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru.

6 Mother India.

10. André Malraux among the Gods of India

1 I became a fabulous opera.

11. On Understanding

1 See Note 11, p. 200.

2 ‘For Jakobson [Roman], in conformity with his view of the twofold character of language, every speech act involves two processes: selection and combination. Elements are selected from the vertical, paradigmatic axis, and combined on the horizontal, syntagmatic axis. The vertical is the axis of simultaneity, the horizontal, the axis of successivity.’ Aspects of Indo-European Poetics. Dr Calvert Watkins, Harvard University. ‘The Indo-Europeans in the Fourth and Third Millennia’. Karoma Publishers, Inc. Ann Arbor. USA. 1982.

3 Czestaw Milosz, To Raja Rao.

4 Holy Ash—Bhasman—The ash that remains behind after the sacred camphor is burnt before the sage or a deity.

5 Upadesha Sahasriyam of Sri Sankara. Chapter XVI, verse 42.

12. In Search of—My Bride

1 A hospice for travellers, mainly pilgrims.

2 The Policeman and the Rose.

13. The Shy Bride

1 C.D. Narasimhaiah, who is perhaps the most courageous, learned, and all-round critic not only to Indian literature, in English, but of Commonwealth litetatures.

2 King of the word-world.

15. Words of Acceptance

1 See Note 15, p. 201.

16. The Ultimate Word

1 See Note 16, p. 201.

2 The Age of Iton.

3 He becomes (transparent) like water, one the Seer without duality.

4 ‘Roses are sold everywhere. These people could not live without roses.’ Abdur Rezzak.

5 The great word or cow.

6 Etudes Vediques et Paninennes. Paris, 1935. Its introduction has been the basis of much of this section of my essay.

7 Perhaps the greatest European poet of the twentieth century,

8 ‘The day begins,’ says Valéry, in his famous journal, ‘the day begins with a light more obscure than all of night . . . A man,’ he continues, ‘wakes up, it would seem . . . in the state of pure I.’ ‘I am the analogue of what is. I am still, O delight, something equal to the whole of fire, silk, clay, steam, and raw music together. I am an effect of light.’ ‘When I feel at that hour (of dawn) the depth of appearance (I do not know how to say it)—it is this which is poetry.’