If you are following Indian politics, chances are, this is what you have been hearing: the country is taking a right-turn, prime minister Modi leading millions of his followers towards Hindu Rashtra (Hindu nation), and majority of the population succumbing to his ideology.
That does not tell the whole story; in fact, it barely touches the surface. The real drama is being played out somewhere else, at the grassroots, where Modi does not even feature, and if at all he matters then there is something else that matters more. That something is the question of identity and the pride that comes with it. Some call it the Indic Renaissance where certain intellectuals from Kashmir to Tamil Nadu, Bengal to Gujarat, are coming together to find their shared roots. It is here do we find J Sai Deepak, one of the leading voices of this movement. His book India that is Bharat: Coloniality, Civilisation, Constitution was recently published, and it has already sparked some interesting debates.
The book covers the time period between 1492, when Columbus’s expeditions began, and 1919, when the First Government of India Act came out, and traces the history of Indian civilisation (its consciousness) and what impact did the European colonisation have on it. Since it’s the first book of his Bharat trilogy, the author covers a lot of philosophical and historical ground, especially from the perspective of Indic people. J Sai Deepak is a Supreme Court lawyer and he writes like one (this may not – necessarily – be a compliment) and he presents his case by framing his questions serially followed by a rigorous thesis to provide answers. Which means, you will need a lot of patience while reading the book.
Coloniality
The first part of the book deals with the idea and history of colonialism. But then what is Coloniality? “Coloniality,” Deepak writes, “refers to the fundamental element or thought process that informs the policy of colonialism and advances the subtler end goal of colonisation, namely colonisation of the mind through complete domination of the culture and worldview of the colonised society.” And the key argument that he makes here is that a society may continue to suffer from coloniality long after the (European) colonialism has ended.
Talking specifically about European colonial project, Deepak posits the view that it did indeed have a clear Christian inspiration that viewed nature as well as the non-Christian New World through its own prism. This gave birth to the European coloniser’s sense of superiority over the rest of nature, including indigenous peoples. The whole phenomenon led to the reshaping of nature to suit the material goals of the European coloniser, thereby giving rise to modern notions of development, and his sense of anthropological superiority created a race consciousness that spawned the global imperial exercise to civilise the soulless natives by replacing the entirety of their cultures by European’s. The cumulative effect was a colonial remapping of geographies/boundaries and a distinctly religion-inspired, race-driven reallocation of labour and resources, culminating in the creation of the modern economy as well as its political institutions. However, more than anything, the whole exercise impacted the minds of colonial subjects, to the extent that they started thinking and behaving like their former masters, which – occasionally – also included loathing their own cultures.
Civilisation
China, as has been often stated, is a civilisation-state. Could one make the same case for India (or Bharat as J Sai Deepak calls it)? There are generally two views found on this subject: one suggests that there was no such thing as united India before it came under the British rule while the other insists that there was one.
Deepak goes with the latter. At this point, one is tempted to ask: how do the Bengalis, the Punjabis, the Marathas form a nation?
They do, the author suggests. The Bengalis inhabit the same region with a distinct name. Ethnologically they are descended from the same race. They have the same blood, the same civilisation, literature, customs and traditions. These are the essential elements that constitute nationality in the popular sense. Castes do not divide a nation any more than classes do in England. Creeds do not rend a nation in two. If they did religious toleration would be impossible. There is less antagonism between the creeds of India than there has been between the various sects of Christianity in England.
Deepak further argues that Indic civilisation worldview is different from those that drive Middle Eastern and European colonialities, which are founded on the firm belief of domination or annihilation of identities that do not conform to their own. The more interesting point, and perhaps a hard one to grasp, he makes is about the Indic civilisational consciousness. India (or Bharat) in his view is a cultural possession as opposed to a material one.
Constitution
Finally, Deepak arrives at his favourite playing field: the constitution. Many in India (and outside) believe that the British brought justice to India. And more importantly, that these laws were neutral and fair. Deepak dispels these myths.
Take something as fundamental as secularism. There wasn’t anything ‘secular’ per se, Deepak argues; only Christian secular. Sources after sources, he quotes legal writings which suggest that there was a strange hope in Christian colonisers that Christian neutrality would gradually bring the idolatrous heathen from the darkness of their false religion into the light of the one true religion. Throughout their colonial rule, the British made sure that a portion of the revenues earned in India was being diverted towards maintenance of the Christian establishment. The missionary work was openly supported, and if that meant suppressing the voices of dissent coming from Hindus or Muslims, that was not really an issue.
This is only one small example of what the British (or Europeans) did. Most of the legal and political framework was laid out keeping in mind the coloniser’s worldview, culture and traditions, not those of the native subjects. A standard of ‘civilised’ human being, which then extended to ‘civilised’ nations was thus set. And that’s where we are today.
This book attempts to pose some fundamental questions of massive significance, for societies that underwent colonisation. It answers some and leaves you wondering about the rest. And it perfectly captures the state of India today: where instead of looking outward, people have started looking inward and are rediscovering the answer to the age-old question of who they truly are.
Kalampedia 