Hinduism and Buddhism is the eleventh volume in the series of the Collected Works of Ananda K. Coomaraswamy in IGNCA's publication programme. Originally published in 1943, the two essays are authoritative expositions of the teachings of these religions as understood by those who practiced them rather than as understood by scholars and comparative religionists who studied and viewed them from without. Coomaraswamy assumes that even the oldest forms of Hinduism were neither polytheistic nor pantheistic and that there is no doctrine of reincarnation, other than that of the immanent God 'who never become anyone'. Hinduism is the oldest of the surviving mystery religions whose formulations are essentially the same as those of Platonism Christianity, Taoism and other traditional doctrines. Buddhism is treated in a similar manner. The life of the pseudo-historical founder, the Conqueror of Death, repeats the original myth of the archtypal dragon-slayer. His doctrine – as he asserts very forcibly – is not his own but the re-opening of the 'ancient path'. Buddhism is thus not a 'new' religion, but rather a reiteration, with different emphases, of the same teachings that are to be found in the ancient Vedas. This edition, much enlarged by incorporation of the author's authentic revisions, will remain authoritative for many years to come. About the Author Keshavaram N. Iengar (b.1928) graduated from Bombay University with a B.Sc. and a Government Diploma in Architecture. He was also a student at the Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland, from 1948 to 1950. Starting his professional career as an architectural assistant at Madras, he was associated in the field of architecture for over 25 years with the Madras and Bangalore Universities. Later, he was Professor of Architecture at the B.M.S. College, Bangalore. An amateur Hindustani Khayal singer, Iengar, is an exponent of the Gwalior Gharana of Hindustani classical music. Dr Rama P. Coomaraswamy (b.1929) the only surviving son of Dr Ananda Coomaraswamy, graduated from Medical School in 1952, and specialized subsequently in General as well as in Thoracic and Cardio-vascular Surgery. He was Assistant Professor of Surgery at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York; Chief and Director of Thoracic and Cardio-vascular Surgery at Stamford and St. Joseph's Hospital in Connecticut for many years. He has authored over 40 articles in the field of surgical research, as well as innumerable articles in theology, philosophy and psychiatry.