Monday, January 04, 2010

Sri Aurobindo escapes the attention of scholars in India today

[WSN-Special Report-Unite The Million Mutinies

The wily British recognised the divisive potential of Brahamanism and its utility in keeping the masses submissive and easily amenable to exploitation.  The identification of the interests of the local and foreign elites allowed for easy collusion between Brahamanism and colonialism--an area yet to be fully understood and articulated. (One contemporary work, Debrahamanising History, by Braj Ranjan Mani, published by Manohar, India, 2005, attempted to do exactly that with considerable success but what we need is several such works). Kalam Nishan Singh (The author can be contacted at KalamNishanSingh@gmail.com) 9 July, 2008]

[Ranged against caste and Brahmanism, this rational liberating tradition is to be found in the heterodoxies of various inclinations, particularly Buddhism, the movement of subaltern saint-poets, Sufism and Sikhism. 
This legacy was carried forward in modern India by, more than anybody else, Phule, Iyothee Thass, Narayana Guru, Periyar, and Ambedkar. Recognising the power of the culture in the politics of transformation, they had emancipatory visions that embraced the whole of Indian experience, and stand firmly as an alternative to Tilak-Savarkrite, Gandhian, and Nehruvian visions.  Indiaclub.com Description 

This book caught my attention at the SAHMAT carnival the other day. It has several references to Sri Aurobindo but not very laudatory. It is a matter of regret that most of the scholars in India today are unable to view Sri Aurobindo without their ideological lenses. [TNM]

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