Socio-Literary and Cultural Study of Indian Society

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

The Socio-Literary and Cultural Study of Indian Society from Ancient to Modern is a search for India's heritage: Hindu, Sufi and about Nationalism and India's freedom from her colonial past. It is analytical but not learnedness. The author believes as Iqbal, the famous Urdu poet, said: "Transcend your reason because though it is a glow, it is not your destination; it can only be the path to the destination show."

People, both Indian and foreign, who want to understand Indian heritage from Ancient to Modern in a simple, agreeable style and friendly manner, is the author's destination. In this volume, he has tried to demolish many myths like dharma is religion, Vedas are Sruti though the Almighty ordered six rsis to write them down. A Hindu is just not emotional in mind, he also believes in analytic discussion (tarka). Upanisads are not just created by rsis but also by a revolution unfolded by the students by barraging questions after questions.

By explaining about the vitality of India and many other subjects, the book elucidates many things about the idea of India in an authentic manner. The readers will find here many varieties of theological explication, ultimately leading to the celebration of life while searching for the divine and realizing the self.

Prof. Indra Nath Choudhuri was in Academics, Administration and Cultural Diplomacy. As Professor of Indian Studies and Comparative Literature, he taught in the University of Delhi (1960-80), University of Bucharest (as an ICCR Visiting Professor) (1973-75), also as Professor at Uccha Siksha and Sodh Sansthan, DBHPS, Hyderabad (1981-83) and as Visiting Professor in many other universities including Central University Hyderabad, Central University of English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad (now EFLU), Jadavpur University and Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

He was ICCR First Tagore Chair at the Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh, UK for a period of two years (2013-15). As a distinguished Cultural Administrator of India, Professor Choudhuri was Secretary to Sahitya Akademy (13 years) and Minister (Culture), Indian High Commission, London and Director, The Nehru Centre, London (3 years). He was a Member Secretary and Academic Director, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi (4 years).

Written many books on Comparative Literature, Poetics and Aesthetics in Hindi, English and Bengali.

THERE was no premeditative thought which facilitated me to write the eighteen different papers which are included in this book, Socio-Literary and Cultural Study of Indian Society: Ancient to Modern Period. I belong to a family of Saskritists. My father Dr Narendra Nath Choudhuri was Professor and Head of Sanskrit Department, the University of Delhi, for thirty-five years. In those days there was no rotation of headship in universities. My wife Dr Usha Choudhuri passed her MA in Sanskrit from the University of Delhi and stood first in class with a gold medal, and after PhD taught in Lady Sriram College for Women and Indraprastha College for Women. When she became a professor, she joined the Sanskrit Department of the University of Delhi. I learnt Sanskrit up to the graduate level. There were a large number of ancient Sanskrit texts and books of spirituality and philosophy in our home library. Being interested in reading books, I gathered lots of information from the commentaries of these books, which became the bases of this book.

All these papers are mostly lectures given at the behest of the famous British Poet Kathleen Raine at her well known Temenos Academy, London or in the Royal Asiatic Society, London or Tagore Centre, London or Millennium Trust, Kent, England. Two papers on bhakti (devotion) were presented, one, in Hindu College, Delhi and the other, in San Francisco State University, USA. Similarly, the "Historiography Inversion of the Indian Medieval Literary Era of Devotion" was presented, first at Tirupati University and later at Bengali Literary Society, St. Stephen's College, Delhi and rest of the papers in different universities of India. As lectures, these are not obtrusive but simple and straight to the point so that anybody can understand the intricate philosophy of the Vedas, Upanisads, the Gita and other ancient Indological texts without much difficulty. "Jiva, Atman and Brahman" as it was presented in the International Philosophical Congress at Athens, I sought to discover the rational principles to analyse Sankaracarya's contribution to the study of atman which many may find a little difficult to comprehend.

I sincerely acknowledge the academic support given to me by my wife and thank her for the same. I also wholeheartedly thank Shri Susheel Mittal of D.K. Printworld, who has brought out many Indological books of great merit and has a great artistic eye as is obvious from his direction given to his artist in preparing an inventive artwork while designing the cover of the book.

THE book Socio-Literary and Cultural Study of Indian Society: Ancient to Modern Period is a quest for the knowledge society of India.

In the first chapter, the word veda literary means knowledge and the root meaning of vid is jnane (all that is to be known), sattayam (all that exists), vicarane (all that can be thought of) and labhe (all that is to be achieved), and in this way, a field of knowledge is created so that man may be truly united in knowledge and thus realize one's self in the all-pervading Supreme Truth. Vedic theory of knowledge, "to know a thing is to come to peace with that thing". The moment of knowledge is a moment of spiritual identity between the subject and the object. It is the integration theory of knowledge that aims at uniting all the diverse objective experiences into one subjective consciousness that absolves conflicts and tensions and leads to peace.

The Vedas are books of knowledge where Agni is described as purohita, who leads the society to realize what is light (prakasa or Atman). All these gods of Vedas act like human beings and not just symbols of nature as described by Western scholars and the best example is a mantra where it is said, "Indra, have you become afraid fighting with Vrtra?" Otherwise Indra is delineated in the Rgveda (RV) as the supreme power behind the microcosmic and macrocosmic activities of the universe. He is the symbol of the transcendental reality, the Absolute. It is said that the Vedas were revealed by the Lord Omniscient to four primeval rsis; Rgveda to Agni, Yajurveda to Vayu, Samaveda to Aditya and Atharvaveda to Angira, directly into their spiritual consciousness. The Sage Brahma received and collected the four from them passed them on to other sages. Hence Vedas are called Sruti, which are heard or revealed. Sayana, a fourteenth-century celebrated commentator of the Rgveda, points out that dharma is known from the Vedas alone and so also the Supreme Reality Brahman.

The texts of the Vedas are meticulously preserved over thousands of years through oral transmission from teacher to students. It is mostly ritualistic but a person with penetrative vision can perceive its inner meaning which is operative not only at various levels of existence but has also something to do with the inner self of man and his attempt in knowing himself by projecting him in the cosmos and the society. The poetry of the Rgveda is mythical in nature and its language is symbolic.

There are three most important things in Vedas: devata, rsi and yajna. Devata means one who shines, devata controls the cosmic rules and laws rta and also satya, the eternal power of Brahman. Rsi is a poet and yajna means to give away what you have in charity for the well-being of the society. All these are explained in a poetical style in the first chapter.

The title of the second chapter is "Seeing Self (Jiva) Seeing as Self (Atman) and Seeing Self Called Ultimate Consciousness (Brahman)" given in short in the contents as Jiva, Atman and Brahman. The prime principle of the self is to know the Brahman, the ekam sat. The view of this world which India believes is summed up in one compound Sanskrit word, Saccidananda. The meaning is that Reality, which is essentially one, has three phases. The first is sat, i.e. Brahman is ever existing. The second is cit, i.e. Brahman is consciousness. The third is ananda, i.e. we enjoy which unities us with all things through the relationship of love. Sankaracarya uses the term prajna (knowledge) also for consciousness.

It is prajna or in fact samyak-prajna (comprehensive knowledge) which reveals this meaning of self (Self/Atman) as Brahman (Pure Consciousness). Nothing is mystical or transcendental in the realization of the self as Brahman as in this realization knowledge or reason plays a major role which develops into a new idea, a new thought, a new vision of life.

Bimal Krishna Matilal, one of the very distinguished philosophers of the modern times - also he was the spalding professor of philosophy at Oxford University said that Indian thought, even in its most metaphysical and soteriological (theology of salvation) concerns, was rigorously analytical, logical and discursive.

The Supreme Reality is conceived of as "light". It is all luminosity. The famous Gayatri mantra (RV III.62.10) is supposed to contain the essence of all the Vedas and, delineates the Supreme Being as the "divine light".

Another Vedic verse (RV VI.9.5) says: "An immutable light swifter than mind is stationed among the moving things to direct the way." All the gods with one mind and intelligence proceed devoutly to that one benevolent intelligence. The scene is cosmic, but is immediately transferred to the microcosmic level and light is supposed to be lodged with one's heart but cannot be known through ordinary perception. All these are explained in this chapter, but in an erudite style.

The title of the third chapter is "The Upanisads: The Oneness of the Limitless Infinite and the Finite".

It is clearly stated in almost all the Upanisads that there is only one Ultimate or Supreme Reality called the Brahman from which the universe emanates. The Isopanisad in its first verse says: The Brahman is all-pervading. The Brahman is the source of all power of fire to burn, water to drench and sense of men to work is explained allegorically in the Kenopanisad (II, IV). In contrast, its transcendental nature is described in the Brhadaranyaka Upanisad (II.5.19): "This is the Brahman without cause and without effect, without anything inside or outside." Brahman is thus immanent and also transcendent. The idea which is predominant in the Upanisads is that Brahman, the ground of all things, is a conscious principle. So he is known as sat, cit and ananda.