In his dual role of poet and diplomatist, not to mention that of ambassador for Latin-American culture, Octavio Paz has seen a good deal of India at first hand and its ancient culture, or rather cultures, absorbed him deeply. This book could broadly be described as a series of essays, scholarly but subjective, about Indian history, the caste system, the politics and rulers of the country since independence, the great religions which are both stabilising forces and divisive ones. Above all, he writes about classical Indian literature, and poetry in particular, going back to Sanscrit times.
His summing-up is disturbing: "We are witnessing now, at the end of the century, the resurrection of ethnic and psychic passions, beliefs, ideas and realities that seemed to have been long buried." B.F.