A Sen-se of our past: Indian historians should now respond to Amartya Sen’s insights
Amartya sen is of course a famous economist. What is less well known is that he is also a philosopher. Not surprisingly, his latest book, The Argumentative Indian, gives us sparkling insights into our identity in terms of our history and culture and into our tradition of heterodoxy and argumentation. He reminds us that along with the religiosity and spiritualism in our culture, there is a parallel tradition of agnosticism and atheism. Sen regards Ashoka and Akbar—one Buddhist; the other, a Muslim—as the two grandest emperors in Indian history. Even though separated by nearly two millennia, each upheld the secular principle of respect for the diverse positions put forward by various sects/religions. Remarkably, the middle of this time span from the fifth century AD onward could well be called the Indian renaissance. Mathematics, astronomy and literature flourished and Nalanda was a renowned centre of learning.
Among the many contributions of this period was that of Aryabhatta’s: he predicted the timing of the lunar and solar eclipses; calculated the diameter of the shadow of the earth to explain its eclipsing of the moon; propagated the view that the earth while rotating on its own axis goes around the sun; identified the force of gravity and proposed that the notion of ‘up’ and ‘down’ depends on where on the globe one is located. The later advances in science and mathematics, such as the decimal system and the place value of zero, owes much to Arab scholars, who translated this work and made it available to the West.
Given such a glorious history of science, it is curious that world should confine Indian culture to the realm of religiosity and spiritualism. Sen traces this to the western perception moulded in early 19th century British India. It was a time when the opinions of Macaulay and Mill held sway. The latter even accused Indian pundits of having copied from western sources. Colonial India had, of course, no stomach to challenge this. It sought its identity instead in the metaphysical richness of the Vedas, the Bhakti tradition. Western Indologists, notably Max Muller and Schopenhauer, portrayed Indian spiritualism as a counterpoint to western rationalism. Indian intellectuals welcomed this as further affirmation of their own identity, ignoring the fact that some, like Schlegel, had recanted their earlier positions. This, combined with the rather ‘exorcist’ images of India in the West, as seen through the eyes of those in search of spiritual solace like the Beatles, and the more recent Hindutva movement, with its obsession with rewriting history in exclusively Hindu terms, has only reinforced the belief in the ‘separateness’ of Indian culture. The result has been an alienation from our rationalist past.
What would have given a far more balanced portrayal of our history, Sen argues, would have been to seek counterpoints of the thoughts of Kautilya, Nagarujuna and Aryabhatta, in Aristotelian, Stoic or Euclidean analyses. It is now up to present day historians to restore the balance and write about the multifaceted and pluralistic legacy that underlies our ancient culture. The writer is chairman and managing director, DCM Group
Comment: Let's read and re-read Sri Aurobindo
For a more integrated defence of the Indian culture, we must read and re-read 'The Foundations of Indian Culture' by Sri Aurobindo. His 'The Secret of the Veda' is an eye-opener as regards the erroneous Arya-Dravida divide. Further, the Ladder of Consciousness enunciated by him from the Vedic roots have now become essential inputs for neuropsychology. It is time we discover the versatile genius that is Sri Aurobindo. Posted by: Tusar N. Mohapatra, India, 19-12-2005 at 0822 hours IST
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