ABSTRACT
Reviews of Books', Journal of the American Oriental Society. A. K. Coomaraswamy at 1877-1947, Anglo-Singhalese art historian and critic, was at this time Research Fellow in Oriental Art at the Boston Museum of Fine Art. These two volumes, of which the second constitutes an application of the principles enunciated in the first, are of fundamental importance to Orient lists, who are necessarily concerned with intricate problems of translation and interpretation. All this he can only do by bearing always in mind the multiple meanings of each verbal symbol that may seem adequate to the end in view. The 'false etymologies' of the Commentators are often better aids to understanding than are the 'correct' etymologies of the philologist. The discussion of 'Problems of Translation', forming of Mencius will apply mutatis mutandis to translation from Indian languages. The Chinese and Indian attitudes are in complete accord, both being concerned with 'knowledge how', rather than 'knowledge of' or 'knowledge for its own sake'.
