Critique of the West in Indic literature and society

[Lance Nelson]

May I suggest that those interested take a look at the following:

Dharampal.  _Bharatiya Chitta Manas and Kala_.  Translated from the Hindi 
by Jitendra Bajaj.  Madras: Centre for Policy Studies, 1993.

Francis X. Clooney organized a review symposium on this volume that 
appears in the current issue of _Hindu-Christian Studies Bulletin_.  The 
review essay which I contributed was somewhat critical, but still the 
book is interesting.  Dharampal is a historian.

To give Indology subscribers an example of Dharampal's concerns, I 
reproduce a paragraph from the book:

"The self-awakening of India is bound to remain similarly elusive and 
transient till we find a secure basis for a confident expression of 
Indian civilization within the modern world and the modern epoch.  We 
must establish a conceptual framework that makes Indian ways and 
aspirations seem viable in the present, so that we do not feel compelled 
or tempted to indulge in demeaning imitations of the modern world, and 
the people of India do not have to suffer the humiliation of seeing their 
ways and their seekings despised in their own country.  And, this secure 
basis for Indian civilization, this framework for the Indian 
self-awakening, has to be sought mainly within the Chitta and Kaala of 
India" (16).

Though Dharampal is certainly a nationalist, he is far from being a Hindu
chauvinist.

Copies of the _Hindu-Christian Studies Bulletin_ may be obtained from:
Society for Hindu-Christian Studies, c/o Centre for Studies in Religion 
and Society University of Victoria, P.O. Box 3045, Victoria, B.C., Canada
V8W 3P4.

Best to all,

Lance
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Lance Nelson
Religious Studies    
University of San Diego
lnelson at pwa.acusd.edu
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