Title: Arya Dharma : The Noble Dharma
Author: Bollachettira Dhyan Appachu
Publisher: Notion Press
Genre: Personal Development, Sociology
First Publication: 2020
Language: English
Book Summary: Arya Dharma : The Noble Dharma by Bollachettira Dhyan Appachu
A publication on the Arya Dharma (Noble Dharma) – A better way, by going back to the future and restoring the glory of Bharat (India) by returning to its ideals of Dharma and SEVA (Selfless Sacrifice).
This book applies not only to Bharat, but to the entire world.
Dharma and SEVA were the guiding principles of the Golden Era of Bharat, when we surpassed even the Roman, Greek and Persian empires and even made a world conqueror like Alexander retreat in fearful haste without even daring to fight us.
Book Review: Arya Dharma : The Noble Dharma by Bollachettira Dhyan Appachu
One cannot refrain from considering any work on Indian culture and history under the scanner of famed “Orientalism”. Dhyan Bollachettira though seems doesn’t quite fill the bill of an orientalist. This book, ‘Arya Dharma’, is a work of very high quality and very deep research for which the author learned nearly all the ancient Indian cultures and all of its ancient literature. The work is polymathic in it’s outlook and covers nearly all known aspects of the Indian civilization from its geography, its literature, governance, religion, philosophy to science and even coinage.
Indian culture and its civilization are amongst the oldest in the world and perhaps one of few which are still intact in pretty much the same form as when they were created. This continuity is surprising and in the book Author Dhyan has tried to find out the reasons behind it.
We are given a quick tour of the history of Bharat. The Indian society as it stands today is certainly the amalgamation of Aryans who probably came from somewhere near the modern day Iran and the natives. It is this culture of the Aryans which has been transferred almost undiluted through centuries.
I do not know about principles but change and choice are always prevalent when you pause to think about life and also about history. If you were to take only a sample of Indian history (prior to the arrival of the Mughals) and examine it, the sheer number of dynasties and empires that passed through the Indian stage are mindboggling. No single person or enterprise escaped the stamp of change and as cliché would have it, time continued its inexorable march. Arya Dharma by Dhyan Bollachettira is a consolidation of the data and writings on how rich a history India had prior to the arrival of the Mughal and then western invaders. The timeline we are talking about is from the rise of the Indus valley civilization to the first arrival of the Mughals.
Reading the book was like a trip down memory lane. This feeling was not because I am fully well versed with Indian history but more because this is written in a style that reminded me of high school history classes. The dry and factual descriptions in the book brought me back to those soporific afternoon classes…sigh!
Don’t let this review make you believe that this is a depressing work about the seemingly momentary nature of history. Author Dhyan is a competent chronicler who relies heavily on the available literature of his time as the base for his work. The chapters are broadly divided into politics, religion and theology, culture, laws and social structure. Summed together they give an in-depth understanding of the Indian subcontinent. This work is essential for anyone who is interested in knowing the Indian history. It is a brilliant reference material.
