Baksheesh and Brahman: Asian Journals - India

Joseph Campbell

New World Library, 2002 - Biography & Autobiography - 390 pages

After ten years of intensive study of Indian art and philosophy, Joseph Campbell, at 50, finally embarked on a journey to India. Searching for the transcendent (Brahman), he found instead stark realities: growing nationalism, religious rivalry, poverty, and a prevalent culture of what he called "baksheesh," or alms. This journal chronicles the disillusionment and revelation that would change the course of Campbell's life and study, and his transition from professor to counterculture icon. Balancing Campbell's astute explorations of mythology and history are his often amusing observations of a sometimes frustrating alien culture and his fellow Western travelers. This account also includes personal photographs, specially commissioned maps, and illustrations redrawn from Campbell's own hand.

Contents

• TRAVELS WITH SWAMI: 3
• KASHMIR: 12
• FROM NEW DELHI TO CALCUTTA: 26
• CALCUTTA: 53
• ORISSA: 83
• MADRAS: 91
• TEMPLES AND MONUMENTS: 107
• BOMBAY AND AURANGABAD: 115
• BOMBAY TO BANGALORE AND BACK: 124
• THE SPACE PLATFORM: 141
• AHMEDABAD AND NEW DELHI: 185
• DANCE TOUR WITH JEAN ERDMAN: 235
• BOMBAY: 252
• MADRAS: 257
• NEW DELHI: 263
• A GURU AND HIS DEVOTEES: 267
• MADRAS: 285
• HINDUISM: 295
• CHRONOLOGICAL CHART OF INDIAN ART: 309
• GLOSSARY: 311
• BIBLIOGRAPHY: 317
• CHAPTER NOTES: 323
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: 355
• INDEX: 357
• ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 385
• ABOUT THE JOSEPH CAMPBELL FOUNDATION: 387

About the author

Joseph Campbell was born in White Plains, New York on March 26, 1904. He received a B.A. in English literature in 1925 and an M.A. in Medieval literature in 1927 from Columbia University. He was awarded a Proudfit Traveling Fellowship to continue his studies at the University of Paris. After he had received and rejected an offer to teach at his high school alma mater, his Fellowship was renewed, and he traveled to Germany to resume his studies at the University of Munich. During the year he was housemaster of Canterbury School, he sold his first short story, Strictly Platonic, to Liberty magazine. In 1934, he accepted a position in the literature department at Sarah Lawrence College, a post he would retain until retiring in 1972. During his lifetime, he wrote more than 40 books including The Hero with a Thousand Faces, The Mythic Image, the four-volume The Masks of God, and The Power of Myth with Bill Moyers. During the 1940s and 1950s, he collaborated with Swami Nikhilananda on translations of the Upanishads and The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. He received several awards including National Institute of Arts and Letters Award for Contributions to Creative Literature and the 1985 National Arts Club Gold Medal of Honor in Literature. He died after a brief struggle with cancer on October 30, 1987.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Baksheesh and Brahman: Asian Journals - India; Issue 4 of Collected Works of Joseph Campbell; Works, Joseph Campbell
• Author: Joseph Campbell
• Editors: Robin Larsen, Stephen Larsen, Antony Van Couvering
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: New World Library, 2002
• ISBN: 1577312376, 9781577312376
• Length: 390 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Literary Figures; History / Asia / South / India; Religion / Eastern; Travel / Asia / India & South Asia; Travel / Essays & Travelogues