On self-criticism

[Guest guest]

<Remember: being critical is part of Western intellectual modernity.>

 

 

 

 

 

1. Very true, and this is something that I (and many Hindu thinkers) appreciate

and applaud.

 

 

 

2. However, Indologists should know that this is not something unique to modern

Westerners. From Kapilar and Carvaka to Kabir and Ramalingaswamikal, many

thinkers in classical India criticized and condemned what they regarded as

unjust, unacceptable, or outworn systems, whether social, moral, or

metaphysical. I am sure you are aware that there are many enlightened

individuals and groups within the Hindu tradition today who are doing precisely

this, and exerting to transform or discard the unacceptable elements in their

society and worldviews.

 

 

 

3. As I see it, what is challenged here is the role and right of outsiders to

distort and propagate aspects of a culture to the detriment of the image and

self-image of that culture. I, for one, don't think that the majority of Western

Indologists consciously do this, or have this as their intention. Unfortunately

some of them (who write for the general public) do, and they have had impact on

the perception of India and of Hindu culture on the part of many who have little

or no direct acquaintance with Indic civilization at a deeper lever.

 

 

 

4. If much of what one teaches about Western civilization in India consists of

Roman orgies, papal corruption in the Middle ages, the Huns, the Crusades, the

inquisition, St. Bartholomew massacre, the Salem witch hunt, slavery in the

Americas, and the like, rather than Plato, De Rerum Natura, Roman law, St.

Thomas of Aquinas, Dante, Shakespeare, Newton, Euler, the discovery of vaccines,

world-transforming inventions, and the like, and keep concentrating on European

colonialism and exploitation of the world, hegemonic dominance, etc., quite

possibly people of European heritage living in India would be appalled and feel

offended. As I see it, a somewhat similar situation is at play here.

 

 

 

5. In so far as the goal of criticism is to bring about positive changes in a

society, we should all be engaged in it with respect to all societies and

civilizations, especially if we can do something about it. But in so far as our

goal is to educate people about other cultures, it is important to emphasize its

positive elements rather than overplay the negative, especially at the

introductory level. I don't attribute motives to the scholars involved in

presenting slanted stereotypes, but I do wish they would expend their

scholarship more constructively.

 

 

 

V. V. Raman

 

December 9, 2003