Sanskrit Religious Studies
Āryaśāstra (Barāhapurāṇam) Volume-Two আর্যশাস্ত্র (বরাহপুরাণম)
Barāhapurāṇam is one of the important mahāpurāṇas. This purāṇa is said to contain originally twenty-four thousand verses, although many of these are missing now. This purāṇa contains descriptions of the worship of Viṣnu and other deities. There are several verses describing the emotions of a devotee towards Viṣnu. Many rituals like sraddha, asauca etc. have also been described in this purāṇa.
Āryaśāstra (Brahmavaivarttpuraṇam) Volume- Eight আর্যশাস্ত্র (ব্রহ্মবৈবর্ত্তপুরাণম)
Brahmavaivarta Purana (vol 2) continues this discourse on the story of the creation of the world. It contains several stories of the kings and their contributions in the course of the evolution of the world. This book also contains geographical descriptions of different parts of the world and also different regions of what is now called India.
Āryaśāstra (Brahmavaivarttpuraṇam) Volume- Eleven আর্যশাস্ত্র (ব্রহ্মবৈবর্ত্তপুরাণম)
Brahmavaivarta Purāṇam (vol 1) is one of the well-known purāṇas. The story goes that all the Purāṇam, including Brahmavaivarta Purāṇam is written by Veda Vyāsa. Brahmavaivarta Purāṇam in its entirety contains eighteen thousand verses. It is considered one of the Mahapurāṇas. It is said to be written in the time span (kalpa) of rathantara. Different purāṇas are thought to be identical with different parts of the body of Sri Hari and Brahmavaivarta Purāṇa is imagined to be the left knee of Sri Hari. The resulting idea is that the Purāṇam are manifestations of different parts of the body of Sri Hari signifying the importance of the Purāṇam.
This Purāṇam contains discourses on how Brahman, the ultimate reality, evolves itself into the manifold things and events in the world. It contains many dialogues between different godheads all describing the story of creation in many different ways. The different perspectives of the jnani, bhakta etc have been described in detail.
Asam O Bangadeser Vivaha Paddhati আসাম ও বঙ্গদেশের বিবাহ-পদ্ধতি
Assam o bangodeser vivaha paddhati, written by Bijaybhushan Ghosh-Chaudhuri, is a detailed study of the wedding rituals of the people in Assam and Bengal. This book contains thirty-eight chapters. In the course of these chapters, the author presents details of the wedding rituals of the smaller communities located in different regions of Assam and Bengal. All these rituals have been presented and analyzed in the background of the prescriptions made in the Smrti sastras. There is a chapter devoted to the prescription and prohibition of widow remarriage as found in the ancient texts and in the rituals prevalent in Assam and Bengal.
Jnana o Karma জ্ঞান ও কর্ম
Jñāna o Karma, written by Gurudas Bandyopadhyay, offers a detailed analysis of several aspects of what is known as knowledge and action. In the first part, we come across an analysis of the ideas of knowledge, knower, known, the limit of knowledge and the ways of knowledge. The second part deals with the idea of duty in its different aspects like family duties, social duties, duty to the state etc.
Ṛkveda-Saṁhitā (Second Chapter) ঋগবেদ- সংহিতা
Ṛkveda-Saṁhitā is a Bengali translation of the mantras of the second chapter of Ṛkveda along with the Bengali translation of Sayanacharya’s commentary on the mantras. Unfortunately, the pages containing the name of the translator, publisher etc are missing. The content of the book mentions all the mantras of the second chapter in alphabetical order with the number of pages where the mantras could be found along with their meaning and significance.
Smṛiti-Sāra-Samgraha স্মৃতি-সার-সংগ্রহ:
Smṛiti-Sāra-Saṁgraḥ, authored by Kaliaschandra Smrtitirtha, is a compilation of the views on some salient topics collected from different Smrtisastras. This book is written in Sanskrit and presents the views of different authors of Smritisastras on issues like the ten samskaras, the performance of different religious worships etc.
Smṛti Sandarbhaḥ (Volume-4) स्मृति सन्दर्भ: (चतुर्थो भाग)
Smṛtisandharvaḥ (part IV) is a collection of some important parts of different Smṛtiśāstras. The book focuses on three major issues viz. manner (ācāra), social law (vyāvahāra) and repentance (tapasyā). Excerpts from the important Smṛtiśāstras in their original Sanskrit, like Gautamasmrti, Yamasmrti, Arunasmrti, Pulastyasmrti, Vasisthasmrti etc. dealing with these three topics have been published in this book.
Sri Sri Gouriya-Vaiṣṇava-Avidhāna (Volume- 2,3,4) শ্রীশ্রীগৌড়ীয়-বৈষ্ণব-অভিযান
Sri Sri Gaudiya-Vaisnava Abhidhan is a dictionary of all the important names and terms in the history of Gaudiya-Vaisnava philosophy. This book consists of four volumes. The first volume contains Sanskrit names and those names that are directly derived from Sanskrit. The second volume contains terms that are used in the bhakti literature known as padavali sahitya. The third volume contains names of all the persons who were close to Sri Chaitanya Deva and who contributed to the propagation of Gaudiya-Vaisnava philosophy. The fourth volume contains the names and significance of the different pilgrim centres. Presently we have the second, third and fourth volumes with us.
Upasana Mandire উপাসনা মন্দিরে
Upasana Mandire is a collection of short speeches delivered by Matilal Ray, the founder of Prabartak Sangha, Chandan Nagar, West Bengal. These speeches contain the spiritual plea of a person who is walking down the path to God. These lectures depict, in poetic language, the trials and tribulations that one encounters in one’s journey to spiritual upliftment.
Upāsanātattva উপাসনাতত্ত্ব
Upāsanātattva authored by Girindranath Vedāntaratna, is an exposition of the significance of several religious rituals performed to the attainment of God’s grace. The book discusses the various kinds of rituals performed both aiming at the formless Brahman and deities possessing specific forms. Many of the theological doctrinal queries raised in this context have been addressed by the author.
Vidyapati Chandidas o anyanya Vashnav Mahajan Gitika বিদ্যাপতি চন্ডীদাস ও অন্যান্য মহাজন গীতিকা
Vidyapati o Chandidas is a collection of poems written by Vidyapati and Chandidas. All these poems describe the divine love of Krishna and Radha. Charuchandra Bandyopadhyaya, the editor of this volume, organizes the poems into twenty-seven themes and so the book has twenty-seven chapters starting with the description of the childhood days of Krishna and ending with prayer to Krishna.