Approaching Indian Society: A Note of Introduction
By: Mihir Bholey, PhD
Understanding the Indian society is like experiencing a walk through the labyrinth of history, civilization, culture, creeds, cults, beliefs, social strata, scientific explorations, philosophical contemplation, aesthetic expression, notions of purity and impurity, sacred and profane, its contemporary economic aspirations and several other big and small interceptions laid on the way. Eventually they all submerge into the vast ocean called the Indian civilization. An ever evolving society that India is manifests itself in its fascinating civilization and diverse tributary cultures; both material and non-material. Few societies of the contemporary world enjoy this privilege of having a uniquely subtle and yet explicit display of the interplay of culture and civilization. Few societies indeed would have experienced the diverse cultural nuances influencing the civilization and the overall civilizational canopy nurturing and defining cultural aspirations in such a meticulous way that they do not escape the limits of the civilizational orbit. Thus, the Indian society at any point of time reflects its cultural traditions and civilizational outlook.
Historically speaking, Indian society is a society of enigmatic proportions. It invites curiosity and scything criticism alike. It invited strong criticism of Karl Marx who in one of his articles titled 'The British Rule in India' published in New York Daily Tribune on June 25, 1853 wrote:
“Hindostan is an Italy of Asiatic dimensions. ….. The same rich variety in the products of the soil, and the same dismemberment in the political configuration. Just as Italy has, from time to time, been compressed by the conqueror’s sword into different national masses, so do we find Hindostan, when not under the pressure of the Mohammedan, or the Mogul or the Briton, dissolved into as many independent and conflicting States as it numbered towns, or even villages. Yet, in a social point of view, Hindostan is not the Italy, but the Ireland of the East. And this strange combination of Italy and of Ireland, of a world of voluptuousness and of a world of woes, is anticipated in the ancient traditions of the religion of Hindostan. That religion is at once a religion of sensualist exuberance, and a religion of self-torturing asceticism; a religion of the Lingam and of the juggernaut; the religion of the Monk, and of the Bayader.”
The Indian civilization and society moved much ahead regardless. The social alchemy included diverse inputs of racial intermixing, cultural diffusion, aesthetic expressions, materialist and transcendental philosophies, orthodox and heterodox beliefs, cults and creeds, social stratification and in the more contemporary context – the system of democracy, increasing global influences and cross-cultural imperatives shaping the Indian and world civilization. It’s interesting to see how a society which builds its superstructure on the rather narrower foundation of a rigid caste system with limited mobility in terms of upward movement. It’s also equally amazing to see how despite the denial of such a large majority of people the social structure still remains intact and unchanged for tens of thousands of years and how socially constructed ideologies held back disparate groups in the society and eventually how it acted as an integrative mechanism which though strengthened and yet remained the basis of acute social inequality. Authors like Naipaul who is both concerned at the external plundering and self-critical of the home-grown civilizational aberrations look at India as a wounded civilization where people were not even aware they were being subjugated. He decries such an approach as he expresses in one of his interviews with Rachael Kohn in 2001 where he says: “I don’t think beauty comes out of defeat, I think the Indian wretchedness comes out of the Indian defeat, and this idea of experiencing is utterly wrong. I don’t think the Sanskrit texts pre the Muslim conquest, dealt in this kind of negation. I think this negation has come with the years of squalor and defeat.” On the other extreme of social stratum lies the unique and much condemned Indian evolution of social stratification we know as caste system. The system despite years of onslaughts resists withering away, notwithstanding minor readjustments. Though not to be taken as a tribute paid to the caste system it’s befitting here to quote Kosambi who observed:
“A change of the utmost historical importance is in the relation of the ideological superstructure to the productive basis,... without these superstitions assimilated by Brahminism at need,... tribal society could not have been converted peacefully to new forms nor new savages changed into helpless serfs—though peace between tribes ... and a change from hunting or pastoralism to agriculture guarantee a decidedly more secure livelihood for the tribesmen. Only an imposing ritual, or overpowering force, or modern socialism could have won the savage over. The Indian method reduced the need for violence to a minimum by substitution of religion; caste or the smritis adopted or replaced totem or tabu with more power than the sword or bow.”
This unique social stratification puzzled the western social philosophers in even greater degree. The western approach to caste presents a rather more secular analysis of caste system. So they often look at the hierarchical character of caste as its social justification. It amused many of them including Dumont whose book on Indian caste system titled “Homo Hierarchicus” is considered a seminal work. Dumont tried to analyze the social hierarchy in the institution of caste from a structuralist point of view where different castes formed different layers of the structure, distanced from each other, yet interacting within a given system. He found caste system as an interesting example to study the alternative models of social hierarchy which was holistic, hierarchical, drew upon religious ideology as against the western society stratified on the basis of class having its base in economic interest and relation, which is individualistic and yet egalitarian in spirit.
A society which fought fierce battles with invaders and settlers but always eschewed violence and iconized Emperor Asoka as Devanampiya after he shunned violence and adopted Buddhism; the religion of utmost compassion. It’s a society which inspired a devout Muslim Emperor Akbar to introduce religious tolerance as the policy of state, encourage inter-religion discourse, introduce a new religion Din-e-Elahi based on the essence of all religions and even gave up eating meat under the Hindu influence. It’s a society which accepted Sufism the mystic Islam into a predominantly Hindu society and added value to it by cross-fertilizing Sufism with certain aspects of Hindu transcendental philosophy. So profound was the mutual influence that it still fascinates a large section of Hindu society as well. And lastly, it’s also the society which with the help of a Gandhi showed the world the path of non-violence and its moral authority over violence in the long term. Never before Gandhi in any part of the world had non-violent methods paved the way to political freedom of a nation. What are these if not the incredible dimensions of Indian society?
To acquaint oneself with Indian society one needs to undertake a journey. It will traverse through its vast geography of continental proportion, its historic and pre-historic periods, ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity, its philosophical contemplations, its aesthetic treaties and expressions besides its socio-political realities and rising economic aspirations in the contemporary context of economic globalization – pointing out the sharp departure from jagat maya to jagat eva satyam (‘world is illusion’ to ‘world alone is truth’). It will not be out of place to reiterate that the contemporary India is now among world’s largest economies and the second fastest growing economy as well which is also home to some of the richest people of the world who constantly figure in the Forbes list of the world’s rich and influential people. There are close to forty such people from India itself. This is regardless that India is also home to 33 percent of the worlds poor. The Indian society has undertaken a long journey indeed. One needs to be equipped with a sense of history, ability to empathise with cultural diversity, acumen to figure out socio-political evolution and so on. It’s because here we are dealing with a society where transformations have often been subtle but certain and have shaped the course of civilization as we have experienced in the case of India’s socio-cultural reform movement which eventually led to Indian renaissance and culminated into India’s freedom movement. The journey is amazing.
But, is the Indian society just a matter of historical interest or has any element of contemporariness as well? It’ll be grossly erroneous to be obsessed with the earlier. The contemporary Indian society which is shaping up in the cross-cultural context of globalization on the one hand and leaving a discernable mark on the global culture is no less fascinating. Its thriving democracy despite inner contradictions, emerging economy despite abject poverty and global aspirations and expression despite deep attachment to the fundamental issues like caste, communal and regional identities make it an amazing contemporary society which can survive even under utter chaos and social cacophony. All the contradictions have become integral parts of the civilization called India which manifest themselves in the facades of Indian society. It’s a society which has been looked at variously and interpreted variously sometimes sympathetically, and at times in utter contempt. The Hindu, Islamic, European views of Indian society and culture coexist. Novelist like VS Naipaul looks at India as a “Wounded Civilization” which tries to reassure itself by reinventing its roots. We may or may not agree with the diverse points of views. They are like anekantvad of the Jain philosophy where truth is a multidimensional reality. Our whole endeavour in understanding aspects of Indian society should be to understand and appreciate the multifacetedness of Indian society because the biggest truth about it is its diverse and multifarious dimensions. It doesn’t end with some definitive response to the question. It’s a quest which still ends at the proverbial neti-neti (there is no end-there is no end).
Mihir Bholey, PhD
Assoc. Senior Faculty
Interdisciplinary Design Studies
National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad
bholey.mihir@gmail.com
References and Suggested Reading
1. Anderson, Norman. Christianity and World Religions
<https://www.csp.edu/MACO/Courses/531/Christianity__World.pdf>
2. Cohn, Bernard. “Notes on the History of the Study of Indian Society and Culture” Perspectives on Modern South Asia A Reader in Culture, History and Representation. Ed. Visweswaran, Kamala. West Sussex, Wiley Blackwell: 2011. 52. <http://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=m-EYXNnvMugC&oi=fnd&pg=PA52&dq=introduction+to+indian+society&ots=WqLeIInddU&sig=JMR_H7ywdoOKmJQbd0eBdLMV9SE#v=onepage&q=introduction%20to%20indian%20society&f=false>
3. Dumont, Louis. Homo Hierarchicus. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1981
4. Geography <http://geography.about.com/library/cia/blcindia.htm>
5. Indian Entertainment Industry Focus 2010: Dreams to Reality. A CII-KPMG Report, 2010
<http://www.scribd.com/doc/2438171/Indian-Entertainment-Industry-Focus-2010>
6. Islam, Md., Sirajul. Sufism and Bhakti A Comparitive Study. Washinton DC, The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy, 2004
7. Jainism Global Research Centre
<http://www.jainworld.com/philosophy/multisidedness.asp>
8. Kapoor, Subodh (Ed.) Companion Encyclopaedia of Hindu Philosophy. New Delhi, Genesis Publishing, 2002.
9. Kosambi, D D. The Culture and Civilization of Ancient India in Historical Outline.
<http://www.scribd.com/doc/4447675/The-Culture-and-Civilization-of-Ancient-India-by-D-D-Kosambi>
10. Lings, Martin. What is Sufism. Berkeley and Los Angles, California, University of California Press, 1975
11. Marx, Karl. 'The British Rule in India' New York Daily Tribune, June 25, 1853 <http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1853/06/25.htm>
12. Naipaul, V.S. Interview. India Through V.S.Naipaul’s Eyes, 2001. 15 July 2006
<file:///F:/Documents/Desktop/V.S.Naipaul%20interview.htm>
13. Naqi, Mohammad. Modern Philosophy of Education. New Delhi, Amol Publications, 2005.
14. Neheru, Jawahar, Lal. Discovery of India. New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1994 (First published 1946)
15. Obama, Barack. Full text: Obama's address to Parliament, NDTV
<http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/full-text-obamas-address-to-parliament-65093>
16. Schools of Indian Philosophy
<http://www.indianetzone.com/2/schools_indian_philosophy.htm>
17. Switzerland. World Economic Forum. India Competitveness Report 2009.
No comments:
Post a Comment