IN 1981 I attended a conference on religion in Winnipeg, Canada. My paper was on Fatalism in Ancient India. In the course of my discourse, I had mentioned that the theories of Karman and rebirth were two of the most vicious ever invented by man. I was attacked vehemently by all and sundry; I realized that fatalism with which these theories were intrinsically linked was a vested interest, or, the apathy and passivity it produced were. It was then that I resolved to work on this theme. It took me many years and a few trips abroad as to use foreign libraries on the relevent matter, however slowly and surely the ideas emerged.

The Spalding Fund made it possible for me to use the Oxford and Cambridge libraries twice, the Maison des Sciences de l'homme at Paris kindly assisted me to use the French libraries twice. I am also grateful for the B.M. Barua Senior Research Fellowship at the Asiatic Society for making it possible to work on and complete the book.

Scholars here and abroad have helped me in my study and preparation of the work. Of them, I am most grateful to Professor B. N. Mukherji who unstintedly gave me his time to discuss certain facts and also lent me books out of his personal library. Dr Tapodhir Bhattacharya gave his time and energy to go over the manuscript and give it a shape.

Scholars here and abroad have helped me in my study and preparation of the work. Of them, I am most grateful to Professor B. N. Mukherji who unstintedly gave me his time to discuss certain facts and also lent me books out of his personal library. Dr Tapodhir Bhattacharya gave his time and energy to go over the manuscript and give it a shape. I feel a deep debt of gratitude to him. Dr Shyama Prasad De, as always, helped me arrange the unwieldly manuscript, revise the typescript and arrange alphabetically the bibliography. Sri Dibakar Karmoker, despite his ill health and other pressing duties, kindly typed out such a difficult manuscript. I am grateful to them all.