Nobel prize winner on Indian identity

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

Prasad Velusamy <prasad_velusamy at HOTMAIL.COM> quotes Amartya Sen
on Indian National Identity, From Indian Express March 4, 2001,
Section II Pg. 8

1. I think the entire article is available online, at the archives
of the newspaper, Indian Express (as also other newspapers). A link
to the URL would usually suffice, rather than quoting large parts
of somebody else's writings. Just basic netiquette, and one can be
on the safe side of copyright issues. (The same goes for those who forward
mails from people who are not members of this list.)

2. Re: Amartya Sen's statements, I have so far resisted a temptation
to respond to it, in whatever manner. He does make pertinent points
for what India should do in the future, and how much of its history
needs to be forgotten. Apart from the cliche about repeating history,
valid points can be raised against some of his other observations.

e.g.

a. From what "then-form" of Hinduism did Asoka "convert"? Yashwant
Malaiya has already brought this up.

b. Divine identity of Rama - I suggest that those who would plainly
deny any kind of divinity to Rama and Krishna form a minority of
the population that would call themselves Hindu (not only in India,
but also in Nepal, Indonesia and elsewhere). As always, it is urban,
educated India that assumes that it knows what is good for the vast
majority of Indians, and imposes its own values and beliefs on the
rest. The point can be easily decided, if someone were to take a
simple headcount, provided it can be done without the Sens and the
Shahi Imams and the Joshis and the Singhals of the world raising
the prospect of resultant communal disturbances.

c. The first chapter of Madhava's sarvadarzanasa.mgraha (on the
cArvAka school) would argue not only against any kind of theism
within Hinduism, but also equally well against any other kind of
theistic belief. "Hinduism" can stand without a strict theism.
Christianity and Islam cannot. The issue is very simple, as far as
the cArvAkas are concerned. I doubt if the cause of harmony in a
multicultural and multireligious society like contemporary India
can be served by citing the cArvAkas who lived a thousand years
ago. India's secularists seem to construct alternative fantasies
about India's past, while criticizing some others for fantasizing
about India's pre-Islamic history.

The construction of social and national identity always needs some
kind of myth. America has its myth of the "American dream". Never
mind that the dream was built by decimating some and enslaving
others. Western Europe has its myth of a glorious past of "science
and rational thought". Never mind that the credit really belongs
to Greece and Italy. The USSR tried a new myth of communist plenty,
with disastrous results. It is a pipedream to think that one can
systematically debunk all the old myths and still have some kind
of stability or cohesiveness in one's society. The needs of India
today demand some creative usage of its old myths and perhaps some
construction of new ones. One can gauge how sucessful a myth is,
by following its electoral fortunes. Still, I look forward to the
day when people can discuss Indian history in a down-to-earth
manner, without a lot of tendentious posturing.

Vidyasankar
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