Encyc of Hinduism

[Dan Lusthaus]

I just received an announcement for an Encyclopedia of Hinduism, from
Vedams Books International, New Delhi. It apparently consists of 15 volumes
for $1100 minus 30% discount for libraries and academics (= $770). I am
wondering if anyone is familiar with it and its background. Recently an
encyclopedia of Buddhism appeared from India with pirated and often
uncredited articles, many long outdated, which the surviving authors knew
nothing about. Is this project more legitimate?

Perusing the description of contents, it seems primarily geared toward the
Vedas and related topics, and includes articles by well known scholars
living and dead: J. Gonda (almost seems like a third to half of the
articles are attributed to him), A. Coomaraswamy, U.M. Apte, etc.

The volumes are in alphabetic order, but in an odd fashion, namely by the
title of essays rather than main topics per se. E.g., the table of contents
for vol. VIII is (N.B. variant spellings of Rg Veda are as is in the
announcement):

Mathematics of space
Metempsychosis in the Samhita and Brahmanas of the Rgveda
The metrical distractions of the Rig-Vedic Vaata
Minor Brahmanas
The Mitanni documents and Rigvedic India
Moral philosophy
'Mother' in Vedic Literature
Myths in the Vedic context
Myth and Reality in the Rgveda with special reference to Indra-Vrtra myth
Nkasatras in the Rgveda
Names of the Yajurveda
The name of Veda
Nasalization of the final a in the Rgveda
Nirrti in the Rgveda
Niska-extraction
non-attractive Daksinas in Srauta Ritual
Non-violent tradition in Jainism
Occurrences of 'Drse Kam' and 'Drse' in the Rgveda
Old Marathi Avasvara and Vedic Avasvara
The origin of the concept of Matsyavatara
Origin and nature of Brahmanas
The original home of the Aryans
Origins of the upanisadic religion and philosophy in the Vedas
The orthoepic Diaskeuasis of the Rgveda and the date of Panini
Paippaladasamhita of the Atharvaveda

What a tyrannical alphabetic mishmash. It seems to contain some interesting
and maybe even useful entries, but I'd like to know its pedigree before
submitting a request to my library. Any help would be appreciated.


Dan Lusthaus
Flordia State University