By Sunil Kumar
For east is east and west is west, and is the twain inverted?
The brown man’s burden in the 21st century is that the Gungadin is now a wog and has inverted the gaze under the benevolent tutelage of the Indologist, the omnipresent and culturally dominant Western media or its pliable minions.
Picking up Professor Shonaleeka Kaul’s ‘Bharata Before the British and other essays’ on impulse proved to be beneficial. This 283-page book turned out to be a breezy read.
Jawaharlal Nehru’s evocative words at Independence about the soul of a nation long suppressed finding utterance concealed the brutal trauma of Partition and the later systemic assaults on the idea of India and its ethos. The fundamental dichotomy between Churchill’s jeering assessment of this nation and the civilizational consciousness that has persisted for millennia recognized by people within the country and the outside world are also discussed.
The many essays in this book cover a whole array of books including history, academia, the nature of time, Kashmir, the Hitopadesha and the Kama Sutra. This work is deep, evidence-based with academic rigour but has many lyrical and evocative passages as well.
Multiple books by Dr. Subhash Kak have made me aware of the depth and richness of Kashmir’s contribution to the Indic ethos, and this one by Professor Kaul has added to the appreciation with newer perspectives. Liked the discursive analysis on the modern objectivist notions of history in the west in contrast to the indigenous understanding, ideas and praxis.
A discussion on Abhinavagupta, Chandra Prakash Dwivedi’s Chanakya, the Natya Shastra and a very interesting essay on the Kama Sutra added to the book’s charm.
The imperialist prism of power, virtue-signalling, systemic or deliberate apathy and our present-day ignorance of many core aspects of the Indic world-view or its knowledge systems are some other salient points discussed that resonated with me.
Vade Vade Jayate Tattvabodha was a very pragmatic world view India’s ancient seers preached. This book wisely stresses on the middle path avoiding the extremes of ideology we have in the present day. Worth reading for many unique insights and lucid prose.
