Guest guest Posted April 21, 2001 Report Share Posted April 21, 2001 Prof. Bharat Gupt wrote in Indic traditions list > The problem is not just freeing religion and philosophy >from the clutches of western anthropogy (something that IGNCA >has been tying for the past decade) but from the methodology >of all western positivistic disciplines of history > and sociology, grammar/linguistics and aesthetics. Is there a new way of looking into Linguistics without studying the literatures and languages of South India? (as far as Indian history is concerned). Prof Gupt wrote about IGNCA seminar on cultural curriculum: << IGNCA seminar on cultural curriculum Dear List, I give below a report of : A crucial seminar was held at the Indira Gandhi National Cenre for the Arts,as part of the official attempts at working out a policy and climate for introducing Cultural Content in School Education. Many aspects of cultural content were deliberated upon. I was asked to take up the issue teaching religion in schools. Given below is a summary of a paper that I read and some of my comments on the proceedings. Introducing Scriptural Heritage to School Children by Bharat Gupt Summary of the Paper, IGNCA conference, March 30, 31 /2001 [...] ii. informing students with select religious texts of ALL prevailing religions practised in India (including those of the non-urbanised cultures, forest people), such as Vedic Samhitas, Upanishads, Puranas, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bauddha Pithakas, Jain texts, Pashupata and Shiva sutras, Bible, Koran and Hadith, Guru Granth and others. >>> What is missing conspicuously is any mention of Tamil bhakti poets like Alvars and Shaivaite Nayanmars. As contemporary Indian religion is Bhakti essentially, it will be a loss if the GOI does not implement teaching the Tamil classics. I remember reading Dr. Vishal Agarwal complaining about not knowing Tamil in Indian Civilization list. Teaching Tamil classics like Alvars will also help in understanding the areal Linguistics for future generations of Indians. Kind regards, N. Ganesan NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX > indictraditions, Bharat Gupt <bharatgupt@v...> wrote: > rajiv.malhotra@a... wrote: > > > > The aura of nationalism is something opponents can and do use to > > brand someone's entire position. > > It can be so only > if nationalism is made small minded and localised. But not if > India is projected as a nation/civilisation with dynamic qualities > (using dynamic in the Greek sense also, that is power/shakti in the > widest sense). > > The Indic tradition list and the Ind civilisation list should > concentrate most on creating a critical mass of scholars, intellectuals > and artists who are devoted to the reinstatement of the Indian > systems of knowledge, in the Indian education system and its > representation > in European and American educational systems for the benefit of > indiaspora > and the host countries. We should clearly define these vidyaas > as they existed before colonial intervention and their further > disfigurement > by socialist raj and the present threat to these by Eurocentric > globalists > and consumerists. > > Being an exponent of these arts and sciences is healthy nationalism > and a civilisational assertiveness that steps on nobody's toes. > > But given the present secenario in the world, > I am sure, that no matter, how non partisan one is to Indian or >American political parties, just taking a stance in > favour of Indian vidyaas is enough to be dubbed as Hindu > fanatic/communalist > chauvanist/fascist bla bla by the mainstream western academia and >their Indian derivatives. > > I have experienced this for thirty seven years, since my first year >in college, such is the pathetic state of Indo-anglophones who now >after the fall of Moscow > are supported mostly by American liberal/communist/evangellical groups. > > There was no VHP thirty years ago nor did the BJP have nore than couple > seats in Lok Sabha. > But the lovers of tradition have always been viewd as upstarts and > backwards by the Indian anglophones, > Fulbright professors, IAS probationers, and of course the Marxists. > > In the sixties they called the tradionals, 'petty bourgeois' or kulaks, > in the seventies, they called them reactionary, in the eighties, > manuvadii > tyrants, and after the 1992, Hindu fascists. In essence, it is the > monophonic > non plural Macaulite class of India that brands, others only abbet. And > it shall > not cease as their own hegemony is at stake. > > We should concentrate on our aim of revival of our vidyas and not be > detracted. > > Reinstatement or revival will certainly update our vidyas and make > them universally relevant, such is my faith. This has happened > many times in Indian history. Revival does not make us frogs in the > well. On the contrary, it gives us an opportunity make creative > additions > to other cultures. To Greek philosphies, medicine and arts in the axial > age, > to Sufism through Vedant, to Romanticisnm in the 19th century and so on. > Take the most recent example > of Indian performing arts in the 20th century. > > Because music and dance were not included (by the Grace > of Shiva/ or the British perception of them as Hindoo religious rituals) > in the colonial studies, they retained their traditional form > and from the sixties onward heavily influenced the west. It was to > counter their power that the western academia began a program of > anthropologising them. That is, explaining them away as products of > ethnic or community needs/ negotiations and politics and thus > reducing/denigrading/ subverting their pan-Indian and universal > appeal and efficacy. But as performing arts are a living force > within India (not looking to Govt patronage except in the case of > fashionable ICCR dancers), nobody gave a damn for anthropological > misconceptions and definitions such as, Karnataka music is Tamil brahmin > music, or > hidustani music is an islamic reconstrucion and so forth. They are > mouthed only by grant seekers and prospective Indian ph.d student > working > under american athropologists. > > But because philosophy, poetry, poetics, ethics, theatre and such areas > were appropriated much earlier by the colonisers and because the > patronage to the practioners of these areas was controlled by > the British Govt first and then by the western universities, > revival of the traditional systems of these areas is still MOST > DIFFICULT. > > These vidyaas need help from the performing arts. The performing arts > alone provide > an actual experience of the fruit of a traditional vidyaa, as a > svaanubhuuti > or a saakshaatkaara. The Indian arts under heavy western influence have > become > more of 'printed stuff" and less of living arts/sciences. The west > wants more > and more of this transition to happen,from speech to print/digitisation. > > There should be more books on Vedic history and less Veda paatha or > viniyoga in rituals, > more of historical analysis of Mahabhaarata and less of its kathaa and > so on. The momentum in > favour of this trasition, this continuing Macaulayism, should be > reversed. > > This reversal effort shall also be dubbed hindutva cottage industry > no matter who is controlling the Indian parliament, even if Sonia > replaces Vajpyee. > It is a civilisational clash/klesha, let us face it. > > > But there is another deeper problem > > with nationalism, as it takes one away from globalization and the > > universality of truth. > > On the contrary, if the Indian vidyas are revisited they shall prove to > to be universal, vasudhaiva kuttubic. The western models are either > relatavistic, nihilistic or a cynical worship of Mammon. > They are not even inheritive of any western lineage such as the ancient > Greek kalos or agathos. > > > > By positioning Hinduism as a South Asian > > phenomenon, it is depicted as part of the exotics of a region far > > away, along with monsoon and tigers. > > Yes, South Asianising not only it promotes the exotic/ethnic/ touristic > kish, it > also. as you have emphasised, underplays the Hindu connection with > China, > Vietnam, Indonesia, Korea and Japan etc. > > > >On the other hand, note that > > Christianity, Islam and Buddhism are each very global religions. > > And so is Hinduism now as the Indiaspora (majority Hindu) is on the > rise and shall continue to be so, as I have argued in my writings > on diaspora. > > > One > > does not need to go to a department of Middle Eastern Studies to > > study Christianity. Nor does one learn Greek philosophy by going to a > > Middle Eastern restaurant, wearing a toga, and listening to Greek > > music so as to appreciate their ideas. It is the nature of prejudice > > to think of one's own myths are logos, and to `interpret' other > > people's descriptions of logos as their myths. By universalizing > > one's beliefs as logos, one elevates oneself and empowers oneself as > > the yardstick. (Remember the `White Man's Burden' justified colonial > > control of others to civilize them not too long ago). > > > This is why > > religion should be independent of anthropology. > > No doubt. It has been wrongly made so by colonial western > sociology or political sciences. That is religion, art, culture of India > have been viewed as a product of certain momentary conditions prevailing > at certain > historical times and milieu, and hence no longer relevant or of > intrinsically > universal value. This is the reductioninsm into print culture models > of the living arts and scineces of India. > > The problem is not just freeing religion and philosophy from the > clutches of > western anthropogy (something that IGNCA has been tying for the past > decade) > but from the methodology of all western positivistic disciplines of > history > and sociology, grammar/linguistics and aesthetics. > > > > Yes, there is immense > > value and importance of Indic culture as well, but let us not negate > > the validity of its discoveries that are not culture specific. This > > universality is what the nationalism agenda sacrifices. > > I do not see a threat from nationalsit agenda unless nationalism in > India > falls into the trap of becoming western construct, that is viewing India > as > a conglomeration of ethnic states, > first breaking into forty nations and then aspiring to emulate the EU. > Some > sections of the West are promoting that, a couple of months ago, some > speakers > at a sociolgoy conference ( funded by the BJP controlled ICSSR), > betrayed such > trappings as they argued that India's > present internal conflicts exist because the independence struggle > overlooked the > ethnic identities of our people. > > On "What is Ethnic", kindly see an article of mine on my home page. > All ethnicity is promoted east of Germany, not in Quebec, Spain or > Texas, Why? > when I put this to Huntington (his visit to Delhi Feb 98), he > unashamadly said > that the West had more guns. > > best > Bharat Gupt > Associate Professor, Delhi University, > PO Box 8518, Ashok Vihar, Delhi 110052 INDIA. > mobile:9810077914 > home phones 91+11+724 1490, fax/TEL 741-5658, > email: bharatgupt@v... > homepage: http://personal.vsnl.com/bharatgupt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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