PREFACE I have been asked by the csteemed author of this book to write a preface for it, and I comply with his request with exceeding pleasure. Pandit Krishnapada Bhattacharyya, Vidyaratna, is widely known and widely respected for his profound and searching scholarship, his deep and genuine piety, and the universal benevolence of his nature. He has written many books in verse and prose--dealing generally with the ordinary topics of Sanskrit Scholarship. But in the present brochure he has chalked out a new line of enquiry for himself—he has busied himself with the tremendous problem of the origin of life. The thesis that he lays down is both simple and comprehensive— it is that the Sun is the source and origin of all the light, life and movement that we notice in the world--- of all that play and intcrplay of forces which constitutes the baffling mystery of life ; and he sceks to support this thesis by laying under contribution all the Science and Philosophy of the East and the West. A bold and daring line of speculation like this is bound to prove disturbing to the self-complacence of many ; it is bound to provoke keen and searching if not hostile criticism. But after all it is a fascinating world of enquiry to which the author has introduced us ; and he deserves our gratitude for the courage with which he
