A Study week
On
Philosophy in Colonial India

What is conveyed by naming the traditional Darsanasastra as 'Indian Philosophy' and what is conveyed by the term 'Modern Indian Philosophy' are the sub-texts of a much wider, varied and complex theme, namely, the Indian reception of the West during the colonial period. Though the colonial period conceived politically provides a focal point, the process of the reception of the west dates back to 16th Century and even earlier, and covers such diverse fields as religion, art, architecture, and more prominently, science and technology. It is only in its colonial phase proper that this reception is subjected to various interpretations involving such binaries as traditional-modern, eastern-western, religious-secular, rational-spiritual (mystical), scientific-occult, and colonial-national. Going beyond these binaries, this seminar intends to review and assess various reconstructions of 'Indian Philosophy' and the emergence of 'Modern Indian Philosophy' as exemplified in the works of Indian philosophers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in the setting of the historical conditions arising out of the two way interaction between India and Europe.

The very term 'Indian Philosophy' has its own history. As a generic term it refers to different philosophical views held by the Hindus, Buddhists, Jainas and even heretics. It illustrates the way Europeans have received Indian thought in the form of translation, codification, and interpretation of various texts that are usually identified as Hindu religious texts. This reception was facilitated first by the works of the Christian missionaries of the17th and 18th centuries and later by the orientalists and indologists with different motives. For missionaries like Roberto Nobili (1577-1656) the translation and the hermeneutics of Hindu religious texts were essential for the spread of the Christian faith among Hindus on the basis of 'common' ideas and ideals. For the orientalists and indologists, understanding Indian thought was essential for the scientific exploration and objectification of India's past. In the context of the missionary and indological works the term 'Indian Philosophy' refers primarily to the philosophical content of concepts, doctrines, and world-views found in religious and other texts belonging to the Indian tradition. The questions arising out of such works pertain to the accuracy of translation from Sanskrit into European as well as other Indian languages, periodization of the texts, and classification of various 'systems' of thought.

Unlike the term 'Indian Philosophy', the term 'Modern Indian Philosophy' expresses an Indian response to Western philosophical traditions. More specifically, it represents the response of the English educated professional Indian philosophers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It not only marks the adoption and assimilation of European philosophical concepts, doctrines, and ways of thinking, but also and perhaps more significantly, marks the reinterpretation of the indigenous concepts and ways of thinking in the light of what is assimilated. The term 'modern Indian philosophy' thus stands for the two way hermeneutical exercise of understanding the 'other' and of self-understanding. In this understanding, the western concept of philosophy and the Indian concept of darsana become agonistic. The relationship between the two terms is not merely one of semantic equivalence. On the one hand the concept of darsana serves as a device for an appropriation of the western concept of philosophy; and on the other hand it is used for asserting the uniqueness of the Indian way of philosophising in terms of an intuitive realization of the highest reality as opposed to the discursive sprit of western philosophy. The evaluation and assessment of this response remains an unfinished task. A scholar who has worked and written primarily on the basis of Sanskrit texts is usually treated as a mere historian of the classical Sanskrit tradition; if, on the other hand he has worked primarily in English, he is considered to be at best a second-hand historian of Western philosophy and a superficial imitator of the British. However, a closer look at the work of the Indian philosophers of this period teaching and writing in the Indian universities might reveal a different story. Their philosophical thought and writings fit neither of these caricatures. Instead, many of them pursued philosophy with great intellectual originality by engaging creatively with both the Western and the Indian traditions, often making effective use of Western texts and ideas in the service of distinctively Indian philosophical, political and aesthetic purposes. Indian philosophers of this period wrote in a context of cultural fusion generated by the British colonial rule. As a consequence, they pursued Indian philosophy in order to render it both accessible and acceptable to the Anglophone world abroad, as well as the educated Indian populace at home.

Much of the academic philosophical work of this period, despite its manifest philosophical originality and depth, is now largely ignored, not only abroad, but even in India. This seminar is a step towards remedying this lamentable neglect, and recovering this aspect of Indian cultural heritage, bringing together scholars who have, in recent years been working independently on the thought of some salient philosophers of this period so as to facilitate the sharing of their findings and focus attention on this body of work as a whole. It will primarily address philosophical writings in English produced by scholars located in the universities of colonial India, the role of academic philosophy in the cultural and social ferment of that period, its impact upon post-Independence Indian philosophy and its seminal impact on the development of cross-cultural philosophy. This seminar will raise questions concerning the development of cosmopolitan consciousness in the Indian colonial context; the Indian philosophical contribution to the globalization of culture; the intellectual agency of Indian communities; and the roots of cross-cultural philosophy as it is practiced today.

The following themes (without being exhaustive) are suggested to the prospective speakers:
a) Orientalist and Indological reconstruction of Indian Philosophy
b) An assessment of modern Indian philosophers' response to the western ideas and doctrines. This may include philosophical writings by professional philosophers like K.C.Bhattacharyya, Ras Vihari Das, B.N.Seal, Hiralal Haldar, G.R.Malkani, T.R.V. Murty, R.D.Ranade, P.T.Raju, S.K.Maitra, among others as well as those of Tagore and Aurobindo among others.
c) Reconstruction of traditional Vedanta.
d) Spiritualization of Indian philosophy.
e) Writing the History of Indian Philosophy.
f) Social and philosophical relevance of philosophical writings during the colonial period.
g) Tradition, Creativity, and Modernity.
h) Colonialism and traditional forms of knowledge.