Uncategorized – Page 39

How the BJP Became the Bahujan Janata Party

Much of the ire of Indian elites and those left of the Indian political center simply boils down to one thing – the poor and lower-castes aren’t voting the way they want them to. Over decades, an assorted motley crew of political parties has taken the votes of India’s subalterns for granted. Through sops and social engineering, a steady support was built over the years. If you are of X caste, you must vote for Y party. And don’t ask why.

Yet, a party that venerates the idols of old has now become an iconoclast breaking the idea of voting one’s caste rather than casting one’s vote. The BJP, for years known as a “Brahmin-Baniya” party reserved for the privileged and so-called upper-castes, has shattered traditional caste calculus and come up with a new formula making established Indian political equations void. Today’s BJP is one that has been given a brute mandate by India’s Bahujans (the so-called lower-castes of India) along with its old upper-caste base. A united Hindu vote is beginning to coalesce, something that is sending shivers along the spines of the BJP’s political opponents.

But to truly understand the magnitude of these ramifications, we must peer into the past and understand the tradition of caste to grasp the revolution we are witnessing today.

Continue reading How the BJP Became the Bahujan Janata Party

Open Thread – 4/17/2021

What’s going on brownz?

Fringe Harbingers of Enlightenment – Literary Experiment of Ibn Tufayl

Being among the earliest readers and admirers of Brown Pundits, it was an honor when Omar Sahib invited me to write here few months ago. Since I blog about diverse topics (like most of you), I hesitated that something might come across as irrelevant. I’ll keep sharing my thoughts on various topics from time to time. Just starting with a piece on Ibn Tufayl’s Hayy Ibn Yaqzan.

It is hard to imagine a young kid finishing high school without ever coming across The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe? Written in 1719 by Daniel Dafoe, it is among the claimants of the auspicious stature of first English novel, and widely believed as a true travelogue upon its inception. However, there is seldom a casual reader who can trace the legend back to the 17^th century roots of literary tradition with an autodidact character at its center; and few are aware about the Arab-Spanish mentor of this optimism in human reason and contemplation, Ibn Tufayl (d. 1185).

Almost six hundred years between Dafoe and him, we know very little about the life of Ibn Tufayl, except that he was a polymath, serving as a physician and adviser of Sultan Abu Yaqub Yusuf (d. 1184) of the Almohad dynasty ruling Morocco and Spain. It is unfortunate that his complete interdisciplinary work is lost, except his philosophical experiment involving an isolated autodidact, named Hayy Ibn Yaqzan; literally translated as Alive, Son of the Awake.

It is the story of a boy, the nature of whose existence is shadowy to an extent that there are two completely rivaling accounts of his origins. One account ascribes his origin to spontaneous generation from matter; the other is necessarily a legendary human drama in which a royal infant somehow grows up away from society and culture. Being isolated from all intelligent life, he gradually becomes conscious, thereby discovering shame, jealousy, aspiration, desire, eagerness to possess and practical reasoning. He experiences love through affection of his foster doe, and death, as it ultimately departs.

To know is necessarily an obligation for Hayy Ibn Yaqzan. Desperately seeking meaning, his search guides him to explore various disciplines such as anatomy, physiology, metaphysics and spirituality. He deduces the presence of God through contemplating the unity of cosmos and its boundedness; and in his ascetic code of conduct, he seeks satisfaction and salvation.

After thirty-five years of isolation, he finally meets Absal, a hermit refugee from a land of conventional religious believers. In Absal, Ibn Tufayl modeled a religious divine who has learnt many languages to gain mastery of scriptural exegesis. Absal’s first reaction is a deep sense of fear for his faith as he encounters an exotic being. As they interact well, Absal endeavors to teach Hayy to speak and communicate, in order to make him aware of knowledge and religion.

However Absal soon discovers that Hayy is already aware of the truth, to envision which, Absal’s own intellect bears nothing except revealed symbols.

Judging Absal’s good intentions and the veracity of his message, Hayy proselytize to this religion and Absal introduces Hayy to his people. As Hayy gets familiarized with civilization, two basic questions continue to puzzle him in great deal. First, why people must need symbols to assimilate and express the knowledge of the ultimate truth; and why can’t they just experience the reality more intimately? Second, being completely oblivious to practical religion, he continued to wonder why there is an obligation to indulge oneself in rituals of prayer and purity.

He keeps on wondering why these people consume more than their body needs, possess and nurture property diligently, neglect truth by purposefully indulging in pass-times and fall an easy prey to their desires. He finally decides to accompany Absal to his land, thinking that it might be through him that people encompass the true vision and experience truth rather than believing it with their seemingly narrow vision.

What follows is a tale of a neophyte philosopher teaching ordinary people to rise above their literalism and open another eye towards reality. His interlocutors on the other hand, recoil in their apprehensions and being intellectual slaves to their prejudices, close their ears. He consequently realizes that these people are unable to go beyond their usual appetites. He also grasps that masses of the world are only capable to receive through symbols and regulatory laws rather than being receptive to unstained and plain truth. Both men eventually return back to their isolated world but this time Hayy as the teacher and Absal as his disciple. They continue searching their ecstasies until they met their ends.

CHT167325 Robinson Crusoe Building his First Dwelling, 1930 (colour litho) by Myrbach-Rheinfeld, Felicien baron de (1853-1940); colour lithograph; Private Collection; (add. info.: Robinson Crusoe construit sa maison); Archives Charmet; German, in copyright until 2011

Ibn Tufayl’s singularly survived legacy extends in diverse dimensions and its canvas is vast. Its theological and philosophical themes were employed and transformed throughout the various phases of European enlightenment.

It isn’t just one curious aspect that many centuries later, the metaphysically preoccupied Hayy Ibn Yaqzan is transformed into a shipwrecked sailor, predominantly occupying himself with inventions and utilitarian exploration of nature. As Malik Bennabi – an acute observer of modern condition – observes, the genius of both the narratives lies in characterizing the solitude of their respective protagonists. In this respect, time for Robinson Crusoe is essentially a concrete cyclic happening of acts, such as work, food, sleep and work again.

Nov. 4. This morning I began to order my times of work, of going out with my gun, time of diversion, viz., every morning I walked out with my gun for two or three hours, if it did not rain; then employed myself to work till about eleven o’clock; then eat what I had to live on; and from twelve to two I lay down to sleep, the weather being excessive hot; and then in the evening to work again. The working parts of this day and of the next were wholly employed in making my table; for I was yet but a complete natural mechanic soon after, as I believe it would do anyone else.[1]

This is pretty much the condition of a modern individual where the void of solitude is filled with work, each of us occupied mechanically with the object at the centre of our world of ideas, diligently busy in constructing our own proverbial tables.

On the other hand, what fills Hayy’s solitude is an overwhelming amazement, the adventure starting by experiencing wonder in the ultimate nature of life and death of his beloved foster-mother, the gazelle.

When she (the gazelle) grew old and feeble, he used to lead her where there was the best pasture, and pluck the sweetest fruits for her, and give her them to eat. Notwithstanding this, she grew lean and continued a while in a languishing condition, till at last she died, and then all her motions and actions ceased. When the boy perceived her in this condition, he was ready to die for grief He called her with the same voice, which she used to answer to, and made what noise he could, but there was no motion, no alteration. Then he began to peep into her ears and eyes, but could perceive no visible defect in either; in like manner he examined all the parts of her body, and found nothing amiss, but everything as it should be. He had a vehement desire to find that part where the defect was, that he may remove it, and she return to her former state. But he was altogether at a loss how to compass his design, nor could he possibly bring it about.[2]

Thus, it is ultimately in the nature of failure to identify this defective part where Ibn Tufayl tries to locate an ineffable reality beyond the material.

Ibn Tufayl’s philosophical romance has been regarded as one of the pioneer autodidactic works surviving from medieval scholastic tradition [3]. But besides being an influential narrative — with rich literary possibilities and themes such as those transformed by a modernist like Dafoe — it was a precursor to important medieval interactions between the schools of Thomas Aquinas and Averroists, and invited modern appraisals from mathematician rationalists like Gottfried Leibniz [4].

Voltaire and Quakers admired it for its appeal to reason, and Bacon, Newton and Locke were possibly influenced by it to various degrees too. Traces of Ibn Tufayl’s original literary pointers are also found in Rousseau’s Emile, Kant’s Ground of Proof for a Demonstration of God’s Existence, Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels and Darwin’s Origin of Species among others.

Especially in the context of Muslim tradition, its contemporary value lies in rich possibilities to bridge gaps between reason and revelation. It lays down a perpetually self evolving construct where reason and reflection are the essential keys to the doors of timeless revelation. Ibn Tufayl’s voice still echoes loud, struggling to tell us that rejecting either would imply rejecting a part of truth.

_________________________________________

Daniel Dafoe, Robinson Crusoe, Penguin Classics 2003
Lenn Evan Goodman, Ibn Tufayl’s Hayy ibn Yaqzan: a philosophical tale, 1972.
There have been attributions to an earlier work involving similar but limited themes to Avicenna.
Samar Attar, The Vital Roots of European Enlightenment: Ibn Tufayl’s Influence on Modern Western Thought, 2010

To the victors go the glory!

I have written an introductory post (it’s free), Entering Steppelandia: pop. 7.7 billion, to a series of posts (mostly paid) that I will write about the Eurasian steppe. So I’m thinking and reading a lot about this topic. This is relevant to “Brown Pundits” because we subcontinental people have been stamped by the steppe.

First, there were the Indo-Aryans. About 15% of the ancestry of modern South Asians comes from these people (averaged across region and caste). Then there were the Iron Age Iranian pastoralists, Scythians, and assorted other related groups. There is no strong evidence right now of a major genetic impact, but I think the statistical power is not such that I can definitively ignore this possibility.

Finally, there are the Muslims. They had the least impact. But they are most reviled. Why?

They lost. The lesson is to not lose. The rest is commentary.

Brown Pundits Podcast with teacher Michelle Kerr

https://brownpundits.libsyn.com/teaching-in-the-time-of-covid-19

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/teaching-in-the-time-of-covid-19/id1439007022?i=1000512866865

https://www.stitcher.com/show/brown-pundits-podcast/episode/teaching-in-the-time-of-covid-19-82364378

COVID-19 is wreaking havoc on the lives of young children, students, and youth. The disruption of societies and economies caused by the pandemic is aggravating the pre-existing global education crisis and is impacting education in unprecedented ways.

Brown Pundits- Shahada, a UK College Lecturer, discusses COVID-19 with Michelle Kerr, a Maths Teacher from California. They compare their experiences, concerns and impact.

Covid-19 has impacted on Education on so many levels and there are many parallels with society in general:

COVID-19 is having a negative impact on young people’s mental health. We are concerned that, with most young people not currently attending school and many young people not having access to resources and materials with which to learn, there will be a subsequent detrimental effect on both academic attainment and wellbeing. Exams have been cancelled in many states and here in the UK. This is having a negative impact on attendance and motivation.

The COVID-19 crisis is likely to have a long-lasting impact on young people’s mental health and the services that support them, including schools and children’s services. The Government must consider this throughout its emergency response and policies to recover from the crisis. Has COVID-19 highlighted pre-existing decline in mental health?

The impact, particularly on groups who are already disadvantaged, is likely to widen existing inequalities and to contribute to a rise in young people looking for mental health support. Is this a reflection and consequence of inequality in education?

Discussions touched upon the existence of hierarchy in education and its parallels in greater society? For instance, will deprived students disproportionately be disadvantaged? Ultimately is this a reflection of class privilege?

A controversial point discussed was weather Teachers have a professional responsibility to physically go into the classroom. Both expressed very different perspectives!

Its been argued that Standardised tests are not an accurate representation of a student’s abilities and they lack reliability. We touched upon the controversial issue of removing standardised testing in education. Weather standardised testing should be formally put to an end. Has the removal of standardised testing been accelerated as a consequence of COVID-19? Will this result in a lowering of standards and skills? And again which group will be disadvantaged and advantaged?

Time will tell, the true long term impact of COVID-19 on Education…….

Open Thread – 04/10/2021 – Brown Pundits

What’s going on?

Monkeys and the Indo-Europeans – Revised & Enlarged

??????? ??? ??? ????-????????? – Revised & Enlarged

(In view of Ugra’s very useful comment, I had to look deeper and found that the post itself needed revision. So here it is.)

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????? ?? ???? ???? ?? ??? ??? ?????????? ???, ??? ???? ???? ??? ????????? ?? ??????? ??? ????-???????? ?????????, ??? ???? ??? ?????? ?? ????????, ???? ??????? ???? ????, ?? ??? ??? ?????????? ??? ????? ??? ?????????.

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T?? ???????? ???? ?? ????? ????????? ??? ????? ???????? ?? ???? ???? ??? ?????? ???? ??? ??? ????? ????????? ??? ?? ?????????? ???????? ??? ???? ???? ?? ??? ???????? ?? ??????? ???? ? ????????????. ???? ???????????, ?? ??? ??????? ???? ???? ?? ?????, ??? ?????? ??? ???? ???? ???? ??????? ??? ??? ?????? ???????? ??? ??? ???? ?? ??????, ????????? ?? ?????. ??? ???????, ?? ?? ??? ?????? ????? ?? ???? ??????????? ??????? ?? ??? ?????? ??????????? ?? ??????? ?????, ??? ????? ????? ?? ??????? ??? ??? ??????? ?????.

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???? ?????? ?? ???? ??? ???????? ?? ????????? ?????? ????????????, ????? ?? ??? ???? ?????? ??? ???????????? ????? ????????? ?????? ?????????? ???? ??? ??????? ??????? ?? ???????. ?? ?????????????, ?? ????? ?????? ???? ??? ???? ??? ?????? ???? ?????? ?????? ???? ??? ????-???????? ??? ??? ???? ??????? ????????? ???? ??? ???????? ???????? ?? ?????????, ???????? ?? ?? ???? ??? ???? ????.

??????? ???? ??? ?????????? ?????? ?? ????, ?? ???? ???? ?? ??? ??? ????????? ???????? ??????? ??????????, ??? ???? ????, ??????? ????????? ?? ‘??????’ ??? ???? ???? ?? ‘????????’, ??? ‘???’, ‘?????? ???????’, ‘???????’, ? ‘??????? ?? ??? ??????? ????’ ???. ????????? ????? ‘?????’, ???????? ????? ‘???????’, ??????/?????? ????? ‘?????, ???????? ?? ???????’ ??????, ?????? ?? ? ‘????’ ?? ‘??????????’, ?????? ?? ? ‘??????’ ??? ?? ??. ?? ??? ??? ???????? ???????????? ??????????, ??? ???? ???? ?? ???? ?? ?????? ???? ??? ???? ???? *???? ????? ????? ‘?? ???????’ ?? ‘?????’. ? ?????????? ???? ?????? ????? ‘?????????’ ?? ‘??????’ ??? ???? ‘???????’, ‘?????’ & ‘?????’. ? ?????? ?????????? ?? *???? ?? ??? ????? ????? ‘?? ????’. ????????? ????, ?? ??? ??????? ?? ? ??????, ??? ????????? ???? ‘??? ??? ????? ???????’, ?? ??? ???????????.

??????? ??? ??? ?????-????-???????? ??????????? ?? ???? ????, ?? ???? ?????? ? ???? *??? ?? *????, ??????? ?? ‘????? ?? ????? ?? ????’. ???????? ??????????? ?? ???? ???? ??????? ????? ?????? – ‘?????’, ???? – ‘????,??????’, ????? – ‘??????, ???????’, ????? ?????? – ‘????????, ??????, ?????’. ?? ?? ???? ???? ?? ?? ??? ???? ??? ??? ??????? ????? ‘????’ ??? ‘???????’ ????? ???? ??????.

????? ??? ?????-????-???????? ???? ??? ??? ??????? ???? ?? ?????????? ??????? ??? ??? ?????? ????????? ???? ?? ????? ??? ??????? ????? ??? ???? ?? ??????? ?? ?????????, ??? ??? ??????? ?? ?? ????? ????????. ???? ??? ???? ?? ??????? ???? ??? ???? *??? – ‘?? ?????, ????’ ?? ???? ?? ??? ??? ?????? ?? ??? ?????. ???????, ????? ???????? ????? ???????, ???? ??? ??????? ?? ????? ?????? ?? ??????? ???? ????? ????????? ??? ???? ????? ??? ???? ???? ????????? ?? ??? ??????? ??????. ???? ??? ???? ??????? ??? ???? ?? ???? ??? ???????? ????? ?? ??? ???? ????? ???? ??? ?????, ?? ???? ??? ???? ?? ??????? ???? ?? ????? ????? ??? ???? ?? ??? ????? ??????.

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??????? ?? ??? ?????????????? ????????, ??????? ???? ???????? ?? ???????? ??? ????? ??? ???????, ??????????? ???? ????? ????????? ?? ??? ????? ?? ??????? ????? ???? ??? ?????? ???. ??? ??????????? ??? ???? ?? ???? ??????? ??? ?? ??????? ?????????? ?? ???? ???? ???? ?????? ??????? ????? ?? ??? ?????????.

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???? ?? ????? ???????????? ???? ?? ??? ???? ???? ?? ??? ??????? ?????? ???? ??? ???????? ???? ??? ?????? ????? ?? ????? ????????, ??? ??????? ?????? ?? ???? ???? ?????? ???? ??? ???? ??? ???? ?????????? ???? ??? ???????? ?? ??? ?????? ????????? ????????????. ???? ????? ???? ???? ??? ???????? ???? ??? ?????? ????? ?????????? ??????? ???? ? ???? ???? ??? ???????? ????????, ??????? ??? ?? ??????? ???????????? ????. ???? ??????? ??????????? ??? ???????? ???? ??? ????-???????? ??? ???? ??????? ???? ??? ?????? ??? ? ???????? ??????.

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?????? ?????????, ???????? ???? ??? ????????? ?? ???? ?? ??? ???? ???????????? ,?????? ??? ?? ?????????????? ???????? ?? ????-????????? ????????? ?? ??? ???? ????????????. ?? ???????? ??? ???? ???????????? ?? ?? ????-??????? ???????? ??? ????????? ??????????? ??? ????????? ????-????????? ????????? ?? ???? ?? ????? ?? ????-??????? ?????????? ???? ??? ???? ??????? ?????? ???? ??????? ????. ??? ???? ???? ?????? ???? ?????? ??? ??????? ????-???????? ?????? ???? ?? ??? ???????, ???????? ??? ?????????? ?????????? ??? ?????????.

????????? ??????????? ??? ????????? ?? ??????? ?? ???? ????? ?? ??? ??????? ???????? ?? ????????? ???? ??? ???? ??????? ????-?????????.

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?????????? ?? ??????? ??? ????? ?? ????? ???? ???????, ????? ???? ?????????? ??? ? ?????? ????????????…?? ?? ????? ???? ?? ???? ???????? ??? ??????? ??????? ?????? ??? ???? ?? ??????? ?????????? ?? ????????? ?????????? ????????? ?????????. ??????? ???? ??????? ?? ????? ????? ??? ???????? ?? ??? ???? ?? ????????, ?????, ??????????? ??? ????? ??? ?????? ??? ???????? ??? ?????????? ?????? ?? ????? ???? ????? ?? ??????? ?? ????????? ?????????? ?????????? ??? ?????? ?? ????? ?????? ?? ??? ???? ?? ??????? ??? ??????? ????????.

????????? ?????? ???? ???? ?? ????? ????????? ?? ??? ???? ???? ????? ?? ????? ?? ??????? ???? ??? ????????? ?? ??? ??? ?????????? ??. ?? ???????? ?? ? ????? ?????????? ?? ??? ???? ???????????? ??? ????????? ????? ??????? ??? ?? ????? ?? ???? ??????. ????????????, ?? ??? ???? ???? ??? ???? ???????????? ????? ?? ????? ?? ???? ??? ?.?. ???????? ?? ????? ?????? ??? ????-????????? ????? ??????? ?? ?? ??? ???? ???? ??? ?? ???? ???, ?? ??? ??????? ?????. ?? ??? ???????? ?? ???? ??????? ????-????????? ??????????? ??? ??????? ????? ?????? ??? ???? ???????? ???? ?? ??????? ?????????, ????? ?????? ????????.

??? ?? ?? ???? ?? ???? ???? ??? ????????? ????????? ????? ??????? ??? ??????? ?? ??? ???? ??? ??? ??? ????????? ?? ?? ?????? ?? ?????, ???????? ??? ??? ??????, ?? ???? ?? ?????? – ????? ???? ??? ?? ??????? ?? ???????? ?? ???? ????????? ?? ??? ?? ?????? ?? ??? ???? ???? ? ??? ?? ??, ????? ???? ???? ???? ??? ????-????????? ?? ??? ???? ???? ??????? ??? ???? ????????? ???? ??? ?????? ? ??? ???? ?????? ?? ????? ????-???????? ???????????? ?

?? ???? ???????, ??? ?????? ??????????? ???? ??????? ????????????. ??? ???? ??????? ????-????????? ?????? ??????????? ?? ???????? ?? ???? ?????????? ??? ???????? ??????????? ?? ???? ????? ??? ???? ????? ???? ?? ??????? ?????? ??? ???? ???????, ??? ???? ??? ?????????? ????? ?? ??? ????????? ?????? ???????????? ????? ??????? ???? ????? ?? ????? ??????? ??????? ??? ?? ?? ??? ???????, ?????? ??? ?????? ???????? ???? ??? ????????? ?????? ???????????? ?? ???? ??? ???????????, ?? ?? ????????? ?? ???? ???? ??? ????????? ????? ???? ??????? ?????? ???? ????????? ??? ??? ????? ?????????? ???? ???????? ?????? ?? ? ????? ??????.

?????????, ?? ?? ???? ?????? ???? ??? ??????? ???? ?? ????????? ??? ???? ???? ?? ???? ??? ???? ??? ?????? ??????????? ?? ??? ???? ?????????? ??? ????-???????? ?????? ?? ??? ??? ?????????? ??? ???? ????. ???? ????????? ?? ???? ?? ???? ??????? ?? ???? ??? ??????? ???? ???????? ?? ????????? ??? ?????? ??????? ???? ?? ??? ???? ??? ?? ??? ????-???????? ???? ???? ????? ???????????? ??? ?????????? ???? ??????? ???? ??? ????.

???? ????????, ?????????????? ?? ??? ?????? ?????? ???, ??????? ?? ??????? ? ?????-???????????? ????? ?? ??? ?????? ???????? ????? ???????? ? ???? ?? ?????????????? ??? ???? ?????????? ????????? ?? ???? ???? ??? ??-?????? ???? ??????? ??????? ???????? ?? ???? ?? ????? ???????? ???? ??????? ??????? ?? ?????? ??????.

?? ??? ??????,

??? ???? ????????, ???????????, ??? ???? ??? ??? ???? ????????? ?????????? ???? ???? ??? ??????? ?????? ???? ???????. ???????? ??????? ???? ?? ????? ????? ????? ???????, ???? ??? ??? ?? ??? ???? ???????? ???? ?? ??? ??? (???. 9), ??????? ???? ???????? ??? ????? ????? ?? ? ?????????????? ?- ?? ?-????? (???. 10). ??? ??????? ???????? ??????????? ?? ??? ???????’ ????? ??? ????? ???? ??????? ???????? ????? ?? ??????? ???? ???????, ?? ????. ??????? ??? ???? ???????????? ?????? ???? ???-????? ???????.

…?? ????? ???? ??? ???? ??????? ???? ???????? ???????? ?? ???? ?????, ?? ???? ????? ???????? ??????? ????? ?? ?????????? ???????? ?? ????? ?? ?????? ??? ???? ????????. ?????? ??? ?????? ?????? ?? ???? ????: ???? ??? ???? ?????? ???????? ??? ????????? ??? ???? ????????? ????! ????? ??????? ??? ???????? ?? ???????????, ?????? ???? ?? ? ?????? ??? ???????? ????? ???? ?? ????? ?? ????????? ??? ???? ?? “??????” (?? ?? ????? ?? ???????? ???????). ?? ???? ????? ???? ????? ??????????? ???? ????????? ?????? ?? ??????? ???? ??????? ????????? ???? ????.

???????????, ??? ??????? ????? ??????? ?? ????????? ???? ?? ?? ?????? ?????? ???????? ??????????? ?? ??? ????????????? ?? ?????? ????????? ??????? ??? ?????????, ??? ???? ???? ???? ??? ??????? ???????. ?? ???? ??????, ? ?????? ????????? ?? ????? ?????? ? ?????? ?? ??? ??????? ?????? ??? ?? ???? ?? ????? ?????? ?? ?? ? ?????? ???????.

?????? ?? ?? ???? ???? ?????? ??????? ??? ???? ???????? ?? ???? ????? ??????? ????? ????? ??? ??????? ???? ?? ? ???? ???? ???? ?????????, ? ????? ?? ???????? ?????? ??? ???? ?? ????? ????? ???? ???? ? ??????? ???????? ????? ??? ??????? ?????. ??? ????? ??? ??????? ????? ??????????? ????? ??????? ?? ??? ????????? ?????? ?????? ??? ???? ????????????? ?? ??? ????, ???? ???????????, ?????, ??????, ???????? ??? ?????? ??? ??????. ??? ?????? ??????? ?? ?? ??????? ??????? ??? ???? ?? ???????? ???? ??????? ????? ????? ???? ???? ????? ???????, ????? ??? ?????? ??????? ??? ????? ??????? ?? ???? ?????????.

?? ??? ???? ??? ???? ??????? ???? ????????? ?????? ???????????? ???? ?? ?? ?????? ????????? ??????? ?? ?????? ??? ????????? ??????????? ?? ??? ???? ???????????? ??? ?????? ?? ??????? ???? ??? ???????????? ?? ??? ??????, ????????? ??? ?????? ????? ?? ??? ??? ?????????? ???, ?? ? ?????? ???? ???? ?????? ??? ????????? ?? ??????? ????-???????? ??????. ?? ?? ???? ? ?????? ????????????, ???? ??????? ??? ??????? ?? ???????? ??????, ???? ?? ??? ?????? ???? ??????, ??? ???????, ??? ????????, ?????? ???. ???????????? ?????? ?? ??? ??????.

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?? ???? ???? ???? ??? ????-????????? ???? ?? ??? ?????? ?? ????? ???????? ??? ??? ? ???? ??? ?? ???????? ??????? ???? ? ?????-????-???????? ???? ??? ??? ???????? ???? ??????? ???????? ?????. ???? ????? ???? ???? ??? ?????-????-???????? ???????? ??? ?????? ???????? ???? ??? ??????? ??? ??? ????????? ??? ? ???-????-???????? ?????. ???? ????? ????? ??? ???????? ?? ??????? ?? ?????-????-???????? ????????. ??? ???? ?????? ??? ???????????? ????? ????????? ???????? ???? ??? ??????? ??????? ?? ??????? ??? ??? ????????? ?????? ?? ??? ???????? ???????????? ??? ?? ?? ????????? ???? ?????? ???? ??? ???? ??? ?????? ????? ???? ???? ????????? ???? ??? ???????? ???????? ???? ??? ???? ????? ??? ???? ??????? ?????????.

?????????, ????? ?? ?????? ???????? ???? ?? ?? ???? ??? ????????? ?????? ???????????? ???? ??? ??????? ??? ??? ???? ?? ?? ?????? ????? ?? ??? ?????? ??? ???? ????. ??? ?????? ???? ?? ??????? ?? ???? ?????? ?? ???? ??? ??? ???? ???? ??????? ???? ??? ?????????. ?? ?????? ????????, ? ???????? ??????? ??????? ???? ??? ?????? ??? ???????????? ?? ?????????, ??????? ???????? ?? ???? ? ?????? ????????????.

????? ???? ???? ??? ?????? ?? ??????? ?? ????-???????? ??????, ??? ???? ??? ??????? ?? ?? ??? ????-???????? ???????? ??? ??? ???? ???? ??? ????????? ?? ??? ????????? ?????? ???????????? ?

Hindoo History: An Introduction

Greetings, Brown Pundits readers! For those of you have been following @HindooHistory on Twitter and Instagram, you may have seen that I now have a Substack where I’ll be posting longer pieces from time to time. I wanted to go ahead and post the introductory piece here for the benefit of the BP audience. Enjoy!

Welcome, readers! Alas, despite my best efforts I could no longer resist joining the newsletter bandwagon. In the course of my day-to-day research for Hindoo History, I often come across characters and stories that warrant more than an instagram caption or a tweet thread. I’ll be using this newsletter to explore those topics in greater detail. To start, however I wanted to elucidate the idea behind Hindoo History. After all, to this day the most frequent question I get is some variation of “Why ‘Hindoo’ and not ‘Hindu'”? There is a superficial answer— simply that this is how “Hindu” was rendered by colonial-era missionaries and journalists, but there is also a deeper response that goes to the root of the project.

When I started collecting newspaper clips, I didn’t really have an overarching intellectual framework in mind— I would just collect and sort clips that I found interesting. I did however have a general sense that newspapers (as opposed to, say, works of scholarship) offer a more robust sense of what the “average American” thought at the time. Enter Professor Michael Altman. Dr. Altman is a professor of religion at the University of Alabama, and his book “Heathen, Hindoo, Hindu: American Representations of India, 1721-1893” was and is instrumental in providing the scaffolding for the collected data.

Dr. Altman’s key insight is that the American conversation about Hinduism long pre-dated the arrival of Hindus and Hinduism to American shores. So, rather than asking how Hinduism arrived in America, Dr. Altman asks how “Hinduism became conceivable in America.” This idea of “conceivability” is a key methodological pivot because it shifts the focus away from Hinduism per se, and towards the “genealogy” of a particular set of ideas, themes, and attitudes that shaped the American conception of Hinduism. Dr. Altman defines “genealogy” as follows:

“For my purposes, genealogy means an attention to the powers, identities, forces, constraints, agents, and discourses that form a particular category. It means paying attention to the connection between categories, the ways they overlap, include, and exclude one another. It traces how the formation of one category draws on others and produces yet more”

Whereas the traditional narrative marks Swami Vivekananda’s speech at the World Parliament as the beginning of the story of Hinduism in America, Dr. Altman notes that when Vivekananda entered the stage, “Hinduism as a world religion emerged in the midst of various representations of religion” and although these representations made Hinduism “conceivable” to the average American, “they were not its direct antecedents.” So what’s the take-away here? Many of the newspaper clips I post involve descriptions of Hindoos engaging in widow burning, infant sacrifice, and all sorts of other pagan bloodletting. It is not my intent to analyze the “accuracy” of these claims vis-a-vis the historical practice of Hindus in India, because that’s not what “Hindoo History” is concerned with. Whether these claims were true or not, they were for the most part the only data regarding the “Hindoo” the average American had access to.

This leads us to another key methodological contribution of Dr. Altman’s book, that I rely on in my own posts: The resulting conception was formed against the backdrop of an on-going debate in America regarding what “religion” was, and as a result the debates around Hinduism in America are drawn into broader sociological and theological disputes raging in America contemporaneously. Dr. Altman eloquently observes that “when Americans talked about religion in India, they were not really talking about religion in India. They were talking about themselves.” Focusing on newspaper clips and tracing themes chronologically helps illuminate not just how the American conception of the “Hindoo” changed over time, but also the shifting socio-cultural fabric of the country as a whole.

Open Thread – 04/03/2021 – Brown Pundits

What’s going on? Will be posting multi-part series on the steppe on my substack.

Also, BP-brand is growing on Clubhouse. Android will come on soon.

The Mughals!

The Brown Pundits Clubhouse channel hosted a discussion on “the Mughals” yesterday that went on for a while. There seem to be two polarized extreme views

1) The Mughals were great Indians! Long live the Mughals.

2) The Mughals were genocidal colonizers and induced inter-generational trauma.

Most people occupy a position in the middle. As for myself, I think it is clear that the Mughals were to some extent an alien and occupying influence because that is how they viewed themselves more, or less. They were Turanian Muslims of Turco-Mongol provenance. No matter how much Rajput or Persian blood they had, their paternal lineage came down from the Turk Timur. The maternal lineage of Babur was Genghiside. If India had been mostly Islamicized this would have changed. But it wasn’t. Despite the deep cultural synthesis between Mughal culture and that of India and their indigenization of the generations, there remained a connection between ashraf Muslims and Persia and Central Asia. They were not equivalent to Muslim Bengali peasants or Ismaili traders in Gujurat.

And yet the flip side of this is that the Mughals, and Muslims as a whole, in particular Turks, drove change within Indian society. To some extent, the native reaction and response in the dialectical synthesis can only be understood in the light of the Islamic shock. More generally, an Islamicate civilization evolved that extended beyond the Mughals and included the Rajputs and Marathas (reciprocally, the Mughals internalized many Rajput values, but this is to be expected due to their long residence in India and intermarriage with Rajputs).

Those Hindus who are traumatized by the impact of Islam are free to feel this way, but I am genuinely curious about an Indian culture stripped away of Islamic influence. What would that look like? Perhaps Odisha and Sri Lanka might come close?

More generally, the excited and emotional response of both Hindus and Muslims and their inability to engage in epoché makes me think that the prospects for deeper analysis are poor. Emotion has reason by the leash.