10.‘André Malraux Among the Gods of India’. Written at the request of Figaro, Paris. The original text was in French and was translated by Ayya and Kim Taylor, for the Texas Quarterly.

Part II: The Meaning—in Meaning

11.‘On Understanding’. The opening note, for a discussion group, between scientists and humanists, at the University of Texas at Austin. It was organized by Dr Winford Lehman, the great Indo-European scholar in linguistics. The group’s monthly meetings, more or less, lasted for about ten years.

12.‘In Search of—My Bride’. Written as a sort of introduction to my collection of short stories, entitled: The Policeman and the Rose, Oxford University Press, New Delhi

13.‘The Shy Bride’. Written for a collection of essays to honour Professor C.D. Narasimhiah, on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday.

14.‘The Writer and the Word’. Talk given at a meeting of the University of Mysore, under the chairmanship of Professor C.D. Narasimhiah.

15.‘Words of Acceptance’. Speech made when the Neustadt International Literary Prize was presented to me, at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, on 4 June 1988.

16.‘The Ultimate Word’. Keynote address at the South Asian Language Association Conference, at Austin, Texas, Spring 1984. Published in The Literary Criterion, Mysore, Vol. XXI, No. 3, 1986. And reprinted in Temenos, London, Volume 9.

17.‘Look, The Universe is Burning’. Speech made at the Scientific University of Tsukuba, Japan, at a Dialogue between scientists and humanists, called La Nouvelle Alliance, in honour of Dr Ilya Prigogine’s famous book of the same name.

Endnotes

1.Aligarh. Aligarh Muslim University, founded towards the last part of the nineteenth century, mainly for Muslim students. A percentage of Hindu students, however, were also admitted to be enrolled, each year, for their studies.

2.Aliya, Madrasa. Aliya, a school mainly for noblemen’s children in Hyderabad. I was admitted there by a fluke in the law, although Brahmin and no nobleman.

3.Antar-akasha. The subtle ethereal fluid, to fill and pervade the universe, and so it is the peculiar vehicle, of life and sound.

4.Asoka (274–232 BC). The great saint-emperor of India who having conquered most of the subcontinent, finally fought against the small state of Kalinga, where, having seen the horror of the dead, he turned Buddhist, and tried to establish an empire for the propagation of peace and compassion. The edicts of Asoka, were planted in several parts of his vast empire. He also sent embassies to several Greek states, in the Mediterranean area, to speak of the compassionate law of Gautama, the Buddha.

5.Bimbisara. King of Magadha, at the time of the Buddha.

6.Hieun Tsang. The great Buddhist scholar from China, who came to India in the seventh century A.D. to collect sacred books of the faith. His is one of the richest accounts of Indian civilisation of all time.

7.Kailas. In the Himalayas, the abode of Shiva and his spouse Parvathi.