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Bharat Trilogy #1
India that is Bharat: Coloniality, Civilisation, Constitution
India, That Is Bharat, the first book of a comprehensive trilogy, explores the influence of European 'colonial consciousness' (or 'coloniality'), in particular its religious and racial roots, on Bharat as the successor state to the Indic civilisation and the origins of the Indian Constitution. It lays the foundation for its sequels by covering the period between the Age of Discovery, marked by Christopher Columbus' expedition in 1492, and the reshaping of Bharat through a British-made constitution-the Government of India Act of 1919. This includes international developments leading to the founding of the League of Nations by Western powers that tangibly impacted this journey.
Further, this work also traces the origins of seemingly universal constructs such as 'toleration', 'secularism' and 'humanism' to Christian political theology. Their subsequent role in subverting the indigenous Indic consciousness through a secularised and universalised Reformation, that is, constitutionalism, is examined. It also puts forth the concept of Middle Eastern coloniality, which preceded its European variant and allies with it in the context of Bharat to advance their shared antipathy towards the Indic worldview. In order to liberate Bharat's distinctive indigeneity, 'decoloniality' is presented as a civilisational imperative in the spheres of nature, religion, culture, history, education, language and, crucially, in the realm of constitutionalism.
Further, this work also traces the origins of seemingly universal constructs such as 'toleration', 'secularism' and 'humanism' to Christian political theology. Their subsequent role in subverting the indigenous Indic consciousness through a secularised and universalised Reformation, that is, constitutionalism, is examined. It also puts forth the concept of Middle Eastern coloniality, which preceded its European variant and allies with it in the context of Bharat to advance their shared antipathy towards the Indic worldview. In order to liberate Bharat's distinctive indigeneity, 'decoloniality' is presented as a civilisational imperative in the spheres of nature, religion, culture, history, education, language and, crucially, in the realm of constitutionalism.
540 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 15, 2021
About the author
J. Sai Deepak
6 books307 followersI am an engineer-turned-litigator practising as an arguing counsel before the High Court of Delhi and the Supreme Court of India. I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Anna University (2002-06) and a bachelor’s degree in law from IIT Kharagpur (2006-09). From July 2009 until June 2016, I was a litigator at the NCR-based Firm Saikrishna and Associates. I was an Associate Partner at the Firm when I quit in June 2016 to set up independent practice as an arguing counsel. Civil Commercial litigation, Constitutional law and Competition law are my primary areas of practice. Since 2010, I have been writing intermittently on the blawg “The Demanding Mistress” on civil commercial litigation. Opinions expressed by me here are in my personal capacity, and may not be conclusive. Opinions expressed by guest authors are their own.
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February 13, 2023
When reading a book like this, it is tempting to digress to larger political divisions and views. I have heard Sai Deepak many times – he argues his case very well and always on a factual basis. Many associate him with holding right wing views since he often takes up issues pertaining to the Hindu faith. These categorizations are however meaningless and we are better off looking at issues based on their own merit. This book is extensively researched and detailed, far more than what I expected.
I remember a lecture I attended many years back by a brilliant Indian thinker. He was able to articulate many principles drawing on ancient Indian wisdom – which is rare in management thinking. At one point he quoted a western management author and remarked wryly – “You can at least trust me on this one – after all I am quoting a western author”. The sarcasm in this statement does bring out a widely prevalent malaise – the lack of self-belief in Indian originality and a deeply entrenched colonial mindset.
This book starts with that context and provides extensive references on how the Indian mind came to be colonised. Invasions and long periods of occupation allowed the occupiers to put in place an entire ecosystem – spanning government machinery, education, religious institutions and literature to mould mindsets. People who have studied under the colonial educational system grow up deriding their own culture. This manifests in ways such as – claiming ridiculously that India was never a nation and that it was the occupiers who made it so. The survival of India’s ancient culture is used to paint the occupiers as benevolent people, rather than the original inhabitants as being resilient (Audrey Truschke’s revolting commentary uses this logic to the extreme about Aurangzeb). We now have the vast majority of people who have sketchy knowledge of their own culture and read about it in English. This has led to misalignment with the original intent eg: Puja is simplistically translated as worship as mentioned by the author. Similarly, I think polytheism is an extremely poor and inadequate description of Hinduism’s ethos but is mostly described thus.
A large part of the book is devoted to the mechanisms employed by British government in India to bring about a “reforming of a backward people”, with religious conversions being necessary among other things. There are references to a number of documents / letters on the intent and mechanisms deployed. He quotes a few other researchers on how the concepts such as secularism have been taken without a local context.
This book raises many issues which need serious thinking about – but with the divisions we have in society today, a progressive debate is difficult. I liked the sections which elaborate on the discussions on how the country should be named. Many had reservations on “India” and preferred “Bharat” or “Bharatvarsha”; finally “India, that is Bharat” is what was finally adopted as part of the constitution allowing for the usage of both.
The treatment is extremely detailed and most of the sections are very dense, and this is a book for serious reading on the subject.
My rating: 4.5 / 5.
I remember a lecture I attended many years back by a brilliant Indian thinker. He was able to articulate many principles drawing on ancient Indian wisdom – which is rare in management thinking. At one point he quoted a western management author and remarked wryly – “You can at least trust me on this one – after all I am quoting a western author”. The sarcasm in this statement does bring out a widely prevalent malaise – the lack of self-belief in Indian originality and a deeply entrenched colonial mindset.
This book starts with that context and provides extensive references on how the Indian mind came to be colonised. Invasions and long periods of occupation allowed the occupiers to put in place an entire ecosystem – spanning government machinery, education, religious institutions and literature to mould mindsets. People who have studied under the colonial educational system grow up deriding their own culture. This manifests in ways such as – claiming ridiculously that India was never a nation and that it was the occupiers who made it so. The survival of India’s ancient culture is used to paint the occupiers as benevolent people, rather than the original inhabitants as being resilient (Audrey Truschke’s revolting commentary uses this logic to the extreme about Aurangzeb). We now have the vast majority of people who have sketchy knowledge of their own culture and read about it in English. This has led to misalignment with the original intent eg: Puja is simplistically translated as worship as mentioned by the author. Similarly, I think polytheism is an extremely poor and inadequate description of Hinduism’s ethos but is mostly described thus.
A large part of the book is devoted to the mechanisms employed by British government in India to bring about a “reforming of a backward people”, with religious conversions being necessary among other things. There are references to a number of documents / letters on the intent and mechanisms deployed. He quotes a few other researchers on how the concepts such as secularism have been taken without a local context.
This book raises many issues which need serious thinking about – but with the divisions we have in society today, a progressive debate is difficult. I liked the sections which elaborate on the discussions on how the country should be named. Many had reservations on “India” and preferred “Bharat” or “Bharatvarsha”; finally “India, that is Bharat” is what was finally adopted as part of the constitution allowing for the usage of both.
The treatment is extremely detailed and most of the sections are very dense, and this is a book for serious reading on the subject.
My rating: 4.5 / 5.
August 21, 2021
A masterpiece on Indian Decolonial thought
While much of the global south has been colonised by the west. Almost all societies have provided something to the global decolonial thought. However, the asian countries and primarily Bharat has not been able to contribute much to the thought. J Sai Deepak starts a new chapter in such thought by writing this book. The book doesnt make much assertions, rather it presents the facts before the reader to make their own conclusions. It is throughly based on facts and research, and all the biases of the author were openly acknowledged at the begininng of the book, it is even mentioned by the author that the age of neutrality was long gone in the book itself, which is very rare for a author to admit. It is a must read for everyone who want to understand, how India has been colonised and its effect on Indian psyche(which is not talked much). Those commenting that the author is presenting only one side facts, probably havent read much in the book, or have indulged their bias while rating the book. The book is scholarly in nature, and all the jargon were effectively avoided to make it understandable to a common reader, however given the academic nature of the book, it might be a bit difficult for beginners. but is completely worth learning the concepts while reading the book.
Must read for everyone, irrespective of their ideological spectrum.
While much of the global south has been colonised by the west. Almost all societies have provided something to the global decolonial thought. However, the asian countries and primarily Bharat has not been able to contribute much to the thought. J Sai Deepak starts a new chapter in such thought by writing this book. The book doesnt make much assertions, rather it presents the facts before the reader to make their own conclusions. It is throughly based on facts and research, and all the biases of the author were openly acknowledged at the begininng of the book, it is even mentioned by the author that the age of neutrality was long gone in the book itself, which is very rare for a author to admit. It is a must read for everyone who want to understand, how India has been colonised and its effect on Indian psyche(which is not talked much). Those commenting that the author is presenting only one side facts, probably havent read much in the book, or have indulged their bias while rating the book. The book is scholarly in nature, and all the jargon were effectively avoided to make it understandable to a common reader, however given the academic nature of the book, it might be a bit difficult for beginners. but is completely worth learning the concepts while reading the book.
Must read for everyone, irrespective of their ideological spectrum.
September 8, 2021
I have followed J Sai Deepak for quite some time now through social media platforms, namely Facebook and Twitter. I have viewed some of his videos on the topics of Constitution and civilisation. What has always led me to admire him is that he puts across his points based on a plethora of research and evidence. This book is no different and I'm really glad that he has written this book as a part of a trilogy. This book essentially covers up to the year 1919, the same year in which the first Government of India Act was passed.
Although India has been subject to numerous invasions throughout its long history and has come under foreign rule, most prominently under the different Sultanates whose origins could be traced to West and Central Asia, and the British Empire, the after effects of the British Raj are felt more prominently and today's India has glaring evidence of the British or Western coloniality although they ruled this country for far shorter duration when compared to their predecessors.
The author explains the reasons for this phenomenon based on the extensive research he has undertaken and his credentials as a lawyer practicing in the Supreme Court of India, the highest judicial seat in the country. Although we are now an independent nation so to speak, there is ample amount of colonial traits that are glaringly and subtly visible in our political, legal, administrative, and other circles. This book is an honest attempt at highlighting these colonial traits and raising awareness in this regard so that as Indians, we could contemplate how to truly contribute towards decolonising our nation. I'm looking forward to the next books in the trilogy.
Although India has been subject to numerous invasions throughout its long history and has come under foreign rule, most prominently under the different Sultanates whose origins could be traced to West and Central Asia, and the British Empire, the after effects of the British Raj are felt more prominently and today's India has glaring evidence of the British or Western coloniality although they ruled this country for far shorter duration when compared to their predecessors.
The author explains the reasons for this phenomenon based on the extensive research he has undertaken and his credentials as a lawyer practicing in the Supreme Court of India, the highest judicial seat in the country. Although we are now an independent nation so to speak, there is ample amount of colonial traits that are glaringly and subtly visible in our political, legal, administrative, and other circles. This book is an honest attempt at highlighting these colonial traits and raising awareness in this regard so that as Indians, we could contemplate how to truly contribute towards decolonising our nation. I'm looking forward to the next books in the trilogy.
November 14, 2021
ETA: Musings on “India that is Bharat,” Coloniality, and our Continued Struggles
Edit: I'm giving up linking the second image here. It shows for a second and vanishes. Why can't it be easy to upload an image directly like other platforms?
The review will take time. I'm drafting it... too many thoughts.
Until then, going to leave a few links and images.
What happened to indigenous kids?
*****
This was in Sep 2021 when a Minneapolis Church objected to the construction of a Hindu temple in the area.
Go here to read the letter in a better resolution.
*****
Since Goodreads refuses to show the image, here's what she said:
I'll take slavery to Jesus Christ over being part of a misogynistic demon worshiping false religion any day... thanks be to God for Portuguese missionaries
St Francis Xavier, Ora pro nobis
For those who aren’t aware, the Portuguese inquisition in Goa was one of the most brutal events where Hindus were tortured using various means to convert to Christianity and become the followers of the ‘true religion’.
The lady is mostly a fifth or sixth-generation Catholic whose ancestors were among the ones who were raped, tortured, and murdered. The way to be spared of such treatments was to embrace Christ as the only God. For someone to show gratitude for putting her ancestors through Hell when alive (to avoid Hell after death) and thank them for paving the way to spread ‘love, light, and peace’, well… it’s beyond my comprehension.
A little history into the Goan Inquisition
Note: This book doesn't cover Goan Inquisition. There are other books that do.
Edit: I'm giving up linking the second image here. It shows for a second and vanishes. Why can't it be easy to upload an image directly like other platforms?
Until then, going to leave a few links and images.
What happened to indigenous kids?
*****
This was in Sep 2021 when a Minneapolis Church objected to the construction of a Hindu temple in the area.
Go here to read the letter in a better resolution.
*****
Since Goodreads refuses to show the image, here's what she said:
I'll take slavery to Jesus Christ over being part of a misogynistic demon worshiping false religion any day... thanks be to God for Portuguese missionaries
St Francis Xavier, Ora pro nobis
For those who aren’t aware, the Portuguese inquisition in Goa was one of the most brutal events where Hindus were tortured using various means to convert to Christianity and become the followers of the ‘true religion’.
The lady is mostly a fifth or sixth-generation Catholic whose ancestors were among the ones who were raped, tortured, and murdered. The way to be spared of such treatments was to embrace Christ as the only God. For someone to show gratitude for putting her ancestors through Hell when alive (to avoid Hell after death) and thank them for paving the way to spread ‘love, light, and peace’, well… it’s beyond my comprehension.
A little history into the Goan Inquisition
Note: This book doesn't cover Goan Inquisition. There are other books that do.
September 5, 2021
A society which looks at its culture and traditions through the eyes of colonizers is doomed for eternity.
Till the day we see our morality through the eyes of colonizers we will always end up seeing our self as savages, brutes and uncivilized.
Till the day our culture and traditions are scrutinized by the yardsticks set by colonizers we will always end up in self-loathing and self-flagellation
Till the day our judiciary relies on the definitions set by colonizers to define us, our society and our civilization we can never hope for a fair judgement.
Till the day we, as an individual, stop using the colonizers morality test to judge our society or using their outlook to understand our history or try to achieve the modernity as defined by our colonizers, we will remain colonized.
A great read to understand the impact of British coloniality on our civilization, our country, our constitution, our politics, judiciary, policing, our consciousness and on our society as a whole. This book takes readers through the concept of decoloniality which seems to be the only option left with our civilization to survive the assault of coloniality which has been deeply imbibed in our consciousness.
Till the day we see our morality through the eyes of colonizers we will always end up seeing our self as savages, brutes and uncivilized.
Till the day our culture and traditions are scrutinized by the yardsticks set by colonizers we will always end up in self-loathing and self-flagellation
Till the day our judiciary relies on the definitions set by colonizers to define us, our society and our civilization we can never hope for a fair judgement.
Till the day we, as an individual, stop using the colonizers morality test to judge our society or using their outlook to understand our history or try to achieve the modernity as defined by our colonizers, we will remain colonized.
A great read to understand the impact of British coloniality on our civilization, our country, our constitution, our politics, judiciary, policing, our consciousness and on our society as a whole. This book takes readers through the concept of decoloniality which seems to be the only option left with our civilization to survive the assault of coloniality which has been deeply imbibed in our consciousness.
September 18, 2021
Beacon of Hope: A Decolonial school of thought for Bharat
I never even know that there are post-colonial & decolonial schools of thought existed prior to my reading of this book. This explains why we are much acquainted and aware of modern & postmodern schools of thought but not decolonial one. As brilliantly illustrated by Deepak here. It is high time Bharat looks at itself and pushes its own indic view instead of following the template set forth by western nations.
With the current educational system & Laws framed with a colonial conscious. I see Bharat nowhere near to the society that Deepak proposed here yet there is hope. We are yet to see where this book takes its place in the Indian consciousness. will it revolutionize the course of Indian thought ? or will it collect dust in the few personal libraries of people?. Too early to say. Let's wait for the next books in the series
I never even know that there are post-colonial & decolonial schools of thought existed prior to my reading of this book. This explains why we are much acquainted and aware of modern & postmodern schools of thought but not decolonial one. As brilliantly illustrated by Deepak here. It is high time Bharat looks at itself and pushes its own indic view instead of following the template set forth by western nations.
With the current educational system & Laws framed with a colonial conscious. I see Bharat nowhere near to the society that Deepak proposed here yet there is hope. We are yet to see where this book takes its place in the Indian consciousness. will it revolutionize the course of Indian thought ? or will it collect dust in the few personal libraries of people?. Too early to say. Let's wait for the next books in the series
August 19, 2021
Biased and more like a conspiracy theory.
The author is simply trying to put his biased narrow opinion forward. The author in a very shrewd way mixes up some random historical facts and mixes his opinion with them. And ultimately creates a new hochpoch khichdi conspiracy theory type narrative and present it to public.
Something written in a very extraordinary English doesn't mean it to be true. In fact the author uses English in so difficult manner that it becomes hard to read for common person. Full of legal language and difficult grammar. Moreover many of the opinion that the author is putting forward have no basis at all. It's simply based on the preconceived notions of the author himself.
One thing i can speak jokingly. It seems to me that the author may be called as the ' Rana Ayub of the Indic wing' ( newly emerged far right spectrum in a different name ).
To comment on this book in conclusion, I'll mention what supreme court said regarding the book written by rana ayub — " it is based upon surmises, conjectures, and suppositions and has no evidentiary value. "
The one funny thing about Indian politics today is that left has one rana ayub but the right spectrum or the newly emerged far right spectrum in another new name ( Indic wing ) has more than one like her. In a simple word these types of people can be called as ' woke' and ' hyper active ' persons who like to remain in the cocoons and narrow spectrum of their bullshit rotten ideology — be it left, right, communist, feminist, hindutva, sanatanist, liberalist, etc. Ideology is just like a disease. It deviates a person from reality. Ideology has taken the shape of new age fanaticism. These ideology oriented intellctual people people will never understand the reality. And will continue spreading nonsense in the name of ideology and their beliefs. They see the world through the coloured glass of their ideology. Certain wise man rightly said once — " some ideas are so stupid that only intellctuals believe them ".
The author is simply trying to put his biased narrow opinion forward. The author in a very shrewd way mixes up some random historical facts and mixes his opinion with them. And ultimately creates a new hochpoch khichdi conspiracy theory type narrative and present it to public.
Something written in a very extraordinary English doesn't mean it to be true. In fact the author uses English in so difficult manner that it becomes hard to read for common person. Full of legal language and difficult grammar. Moreover many of the opinion that the author is putting forward have no basis at all. It's simply based on the preconceived notions of the author himself.
One thing i can speak jokingly. It seems to me that the author may be called as the ' Rana Ayub of the Indic wing' ( newly emerged far right spectrum in a different name ).
To comment on this book in conclusion, I'll mention what supreme court said regarding the book written by rana ayub — " it is based upon surmises, conjectures, and suppositions and has no evidentiary value. "
The one funny thing about Indian politics today is that left has one rana ayub but the right spectrum or the newly emerged far right spectrum in another new name ( Indic wing ) has more than one like her. In a simple word these types of people can be called as ' woke' and ' hyper active ' persons who like to remain in the cocoons and narrow spectrum of their bullshit rotten ideology — be it left, right, communist, feminist, hindutva, sanatanist, liberalist, etc. Ideology is just like a disease. It deviates a person from reality. Ideology has taken the shape of new age fanaticism. These ideology oriented intellctual people people will never understand the reality. And will continue spreading nonsense in the name of ideology and their beliefs. They see the world through the coloured glass of their ideology. Certain wise man rightly said once — " some ideas are so stupid that only intellctuals believe them ".
January 19, 2022
India attained its political independence from Britain in 1947. Even though the foreign masters were forced to go home, the soul of colonialism firmly stayed back. India did not even try to dismantle the colonial institutions, but chose to wear some of them on its sleeves. The concept of a nation-state, constitutionalism, modernity, secularism and the understanding of what is a civilisation are borrowed from the British and held in high esteem. At this point, the question naturally arises whether these aren’t indeed ideals that are estimable and worthy of emulation. Without a trace of doubt we can answer it in the affirmative, but with a caveat. Our value system is moulded by education and exchange of ideas both locally and between nations. Both of these modes are suffused with colonial morals. Unbeknown to us, the colonized people’s thoughts are restrained within the bounds set by ideas having a colonial origin. Indian society unquestionably accepted the ideas of modernity that came to dominate intellectual life in the nineteenth century and accepted as valid by both the colonizer and the colonized. The veneer of coloniality is to be first removed to appreciate the indigenous values that have been systematically vilified by colonial era historians and evangelists. This book seeks to unravel the veil of coloniality that has profoundly shaped the thinking of the conquered by white European Christian subjugation. The title of the book refers to Article 1 of the Indian Constitution which states that India, that is, Bharat shall be a union of states. The title also refers to the unreconciled dichotomy between an India shaped by colonialism and a Bharat which represents indigenous consciousness. J. Sai Deepak is an engineer-turned-lawyer practicing as an arguing counsel before the Supreme Court of India. He has carved a niche for himself as a litigator in civil, commercial and constitutional matters. This is his first book.
Sai Deepak promotes the use of the word ‘coloniality’ to denote the mindset that still keeps the coloniser’s ideals deeply entrenched in the colonised’s thoughts. Coloniality is the fundamental element of colonialism that facilitates colonization of the mind through complete domination of the culture and world view of the colonized society. A confusing point confronts us here. Unlike other colonialized societies, the religion and culture of India is still largely intact after centuries of European Christian and Middle Eastern colonization, the latter being a euphemism for Muslim conquest of India. The author argues that beneath this façade of continuity, the essential cultural aspects have changed to emulate the European prototypes. The vision of independence coined by native elites was limited to the politico-economic sphere but did not include decolonization on the cultural front. The true genius of European colonialism lay not in the political and economic repression of the native, but in successfully projecting his way of life as the aspirational ideal.
The author then moves on to explain how the colonizer could dislodge awareness of one’s roots from the minds of Indian ‘heathens’. The education policy of Britain was heavily tinted by the evangelical hue where the missionaries were assigned the task of teaching the children of other faiths seemingly secular topics. The evangelists always dangled the carrot of conversion as a way of uplifting the natives through plum jobs in the colonial administration. On the other hand, the government wanted to produce a generation of people ‘Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals and in intellect’. We have to accept that the colonizer achieved what he targeted. Colonial education annihilated a society’s belief in itself. It made the colonized people see their past as one vast wasteland of non-achievement and it made them desirous of distancing themselves from that wasteland. European coloniality was directly responsible for disrupting the sacred relationship between indigenous peoples and nature, the destruction of their faith, language, political and social structures and knowledge – in short, their entire culture. The Christian tenet that placed man at the centre of creation brought in the idea of nature as just a resource for exploitation. The world is still witnessing the dreadful aftereffects of carrying this idea too far.
What is really unexpected for the readers is to learn that the modern morals shared by colonialism such as rationality and secularism were shaped by reformative concepts on Christianity which found its expression in the Protestant Reformation. The religious wars popularly known as the Thirty Years’ War and the Peace of Westphalia which ended it engendered nation-states and postulated the twin ideals of a spiritual and temporal sphere. Enlightenment represented the predominance of reason over faith. Noted philosopher John Locke divided society also into two spheres, the civil and the religious. This suggested a civil authority to safeguard the nation and also to prevent outrages of humans who are designed ‘to prey on the fruits of others’ labour’. This was a replica of the Christian political theology of two kingdoms – the material and spiritual. The civil society acted as a secularized reproduction of the Christian assumption that humans are stained by sin and fundamentally depraved. The book criticizes the claim of the Indian elite that Britain unified the country and made investments in infrastructure such as the railways. The very idea of India, its civilizational unity, its relationship with time and its subjectivity have been thus tied to the advent of the colonizer. This is an abysmal understanding of global history and clear evidence of the nature and dominance of coloniality in Indian secular thinking.
The colonial influence on the legal systems and constitution is still felt, mostly to the detriment of diversity and indigenous spirit. Traditionally, the colonies were forced to adopt legal mechanisms to preserve their integrity upon achieving independence to overcome the fissiparous tendencies created by the imposition of nation-statehood. The foremost among these was a constitution which was initially intended to be a means to forge a nation-state. This was often elevated to the status of a religious document. Judiciary in decolonized societies assumes a similar position as the Roman Catholic Church during Reformation. Instead of decentralizing morality and allowing the society’s indigenous cultural moorings to inform law and policy, blind and unthinking constitutionalism has effectively contributed to the concentration of totalizing powers over morality and world view in the hands of unelected institutions and individuals. This is a clear reference to the author’s own experience when he appeared in court to argue against the plea of feminists demanding entry into the Sabarimala temple in Kerala. This temple forbids entry of women of reproductive age based on custom and legend of the deity who is worshipped as a brahmachari. The court ruled for entry of women in an immediately stunning though eventually fruitless verdict.
Sai Deepak spares enough space to examine the difficulties posed by the framework of a nation-state on India. The monochromatic concept of a nation-state does not do justice to India on account of the sheer human diversity. A different yardstick is to be applied, such as the civilisation-state like China or Japan. In a civilisation-state, the core unit is not the individual; instead it is the group or groups to which a person belongs. This is a crucial difference between the concept proposed by the author and what the people have become used to over the centuries. Individuals, of course, have rights, but it should necessarily be traded off if it adversely affects the interests of the group or the civilizational interest. The author is somewhat vague on this front, claiming that such ideas would become clarified only after decoloniality is applied to the accumulated wisdom.
This book ends with the introduction of the Government of India Act, 1919 which the author claims to be the first Constitution of India. Even though the British state claimed to be secular and thus impartial to all religions, almost a quarter of this book is dedicated to list out the instances in which it went out of the way to promote Christian evangelism. The Charter Act of 1833 included provisions for appointing bishops to the presidency towns, with the Kolkata bishop having supremacy over them. The onus for appointing the bishop was on the government. Similarly, the 1919 Constitution specified that the expenditures made for ecclesiastical purposes shall not be submitted to the vote in the legislative assembly and that they should also not be open for discussion. Many more such cases are described in the book. But the utmost harm to Indian society was felt on another arena. The blatantly Christian attempt to understand the fundamental tenets of Hinduism led to the quest for a Moses-like law giver. This quest yielded Manu, author of the Manu Smriti. This treatise in fact constituted only a descriptive recording of customs and practices, rather than religious law, but it is now wrongly treated as the essence of Hinduism by liberal thinkers.
Make no mistake about it. This book is a very serious effort and has the potential to change the outlook of readers. This is only the first part of a trilogy. It provides the theoretical underpinnings of a new school of thought in Indian politics. That it supports the Right is an understatement. This book furnishes its theoretical framework in a sophisticated language understandable to all political scientists in the world. This book also heralds the coming of age of solid rightist thinking. If I may say so without causing offence, the arguments and logic in this book unshackles the proponents of Hindutva from the philosophically candid but rather unsophisticated oeuvre of the early leaders of the Sangh. The author consistently uses the term ‘Bharat’ throughout the book. Any slight incoherence in his logic is answered by the convenient assertion that whether the issue of pre-colonial India needed reform cannot be examined until there is a decolonialised understanding of pre-colonial India’s indigenous culture and society.
The book is highly recommended.
Sai Deepak promotes the use of the word ‘coloniality’ to denote the mindset that still keeps the coloniser’s ideals deeply entrenched in the colonised’s thoughts. Coloniality is the fundamental element of colonialism that facilitates colonization of the mind through complete domination of the culture and world view of the colonized society. A confusing point confronts us here. Unlike other colonialized societies, the religion and culture of India is still largely intact after centuries of European Christian and Middle Eastern colonization, the latter being a euphemism for Muslim conquest of India. The author argues that beneath this façade of continuity, the essential cultural aspects have changed to emulate the European prototypes. The vision of independence coined by native elites was limited to the politico-economic sphere but did not include decolonization on the cultural front. The true genius of European colonialism lay not in the political and economic repression of the native, but in successfully projecting his way of life as the aspirational ideal.
The author then moves on to explain how the colonizer could dislodge awareness of one’s roots from the minds of Indian ‘heathens’. The education policy of Britain was heavily tinted by the evangelical hue where the missionaries were assigned the task of teaching the children of other faiths seemingly secular topics. The evangelists always dangled the carrot of conversion as a way of uplifting the natives through plum jobs in the colonial administration. On the other hand, the government wanted to produce a generation of people ‘Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals and in intellect’. We have to accept that the colonizer achieved what he targeted. Colonial education annihilated a society’s belief in itself. It made the colonized people see their past as one vast wasteland of non-achievement and it made them desirous of distancing themselves from that wasteland. European coloniality was directly responsible for disrupting the sacred relationship between indigenous peoples and nature, the destruction of their faith, language, political and social structures and knowledge – in short, their entire culture. The Christian tenet that placed man at the centre of creation brought in the idea of nature as just a resource for exploitation. The world is still witnessing the dreadful aftereffects of carrying this idea too far.
What is really unexpected for the readers is to learn that the modern morals shared by colonialism such as rationality and secularism were shaped by reformative concepts on Christianity which found its expression in the Protestant Reformation. The religious wars popularly known as the Thirty Years’ War and the Peace of Westphalia which ended it engendered nation-states and postulated the twin ideals of a spiritual and temporal sphere. Enlightenment represented the predominance of reason over faith. Noted philosopher John Locke divided society also into two spheres, the civil and the religious. This suggested a civil authority to safeguard the nation and also to prevent outrages of humans who are designed ‘to prey on the fruits of others’ labour’. This was a replica of the Christian political theology of two kingdoms – the material and spiritual. The civil society acted as a secularized reproduction of the Christian assumption that humans are stained by sin and fundamentally depraved. The book criticizes the claim of the Indian elite that Britain unified the country and made investments in infrastructure such as the railways. The very idea of India, its civilizational unity, its relationship with time and its subjectivity have been thus tied to the advent of the colonizer. This is an abysmal understanding of global history and clear evidence of the nature and dominance of coloniality in Indian secular thinking.
The colonial influence on the legal systems and constitution is still felt, mostly to the detriment of diversity and indigenous spirit. Traditionally, the colonies were forced to adopt legal mechanisms to preserve their integrity upon achieving independence to overcome the fissiparous tendencies created by the imposition of nation-statehood. The foremost among these was a constitution which was initially intended to be a means to forge a nation-state. This was often elevated to the status of a religious document. Judiciary in decolonized societies assumes a similar position as the Roman Catholic Church during Reformation. Instead of decentralizing morality and allowing the society’s indigenous cultural moorings to inform law and policy, blind and unthinking constitutionalism has effectively contributed to the concentration of totalizing powers over morality and world view in the hands of unelected institutions and individuals. This is a clear reference to the author’s own experience when he appeared in court to argue against the plea of feminists demanding entry into the Sabarimala temple in Kerala. This temple forbids entry of women of reproductive age based on custom and legend of the deity who is worshipped as a brahmachari. The court ruled for entry of women in an immediately stunning though eventually fruitless verdict.
Sai Deepak spares enough space to examine the difficulties posed by the framework of a nation-state on India. The monochromatic concept of a nation-state does not do justice to India on account of the sheer human diversity. A different yardstick is to be applied, such as the civilisation-state like China or Japan. In a civilisation-state, the core unit is not the individual; instead it is the group or groups to which a person belongs. This is a crucial difference between the concept proposed by the author and what the people have become used to over the centuries. Individuals, of course, have rights, but it should necessarily be traded off if it adversely affects the interests of the group or the civilizational interest. The author is somewhat vague on this front, claiming that such ideas would become clarified only after decoloniality is applied to the accumulated wisdom.
This book ends with the introduction of the Government of India Act, 1919 which the author claims to be the first Constitution of India. Even though the British state claimed to be secular and thus impartial to all religions, almost a quarter of this book is dedicated to list out the instances in which it went out of the way to promote Christian evangelism. The Charter Act of 1833 included provisions for appointing bishops to the presidency towns, with the Kolkata bishop having supremacy over them. The onus for appointing the bishop was on the government. Similarly, the 1919 Constitution specified that the expenditures made for ecclesiastical purposes shall not be submitted to the vote in the legislative assembly and that they should also not be open for discussion. Many more such cases are described in the book. But the utmost harm to Indian society was felt on another arena. The blatantly Christian attempt to understand the fundamental tenets of Hinduism led to the quest for a Moses-like law giver. This quest yielded Manu, author of the Manu Smriti. This treatise in fact constituted only a descriptive recording of customs and practices, rather than religious law, but it is now wrongly treated as the essence of Hinduism by liberal thinkers.
Make no mistake about it. This book is a very serious effort and has the potential to change the outlook of readers. This is only the first part of a trilogy. It provides the theoretical underpinnings of a new school of thought in Indian politics. That it supports the Right is an understatement. This book furnishes its theoretical framework in a sophisticated language understandable to all political scientists in the world. This book also heralds the coming of age of solid rightist thinking. If I may say so without causing offence, the arguments and logic in this book unshackles the proponents of Hindutva from the philosophically candid but rather unsophisticated oeuvre of the early leaders of the Sangh. The author consistently uses the term ‘Bharat’ throughout the book. Any slight incoherence in his logic is answered by the convenient assertion that whether the issue of pre-colonial India needed reform cannot be examined until there is a decolonialised understanding of pre-colonial India’s indigenous culture and society.
The book is highly recommended.
September 4, 2021
A state that rules its people and based on foreign ideals, values and hate for all that is India. This book brings a lot of clarity on state if affairs of Bharat and the sorry state that claims Bharats legacy but hates it to the core. A heavy read.
December 27, 2022
I am very surprised to see the 4.5 ratings for this book. I say this because, being an Indian author who has written 14 books and having physically met at least 800 readers of my books if not more, I know for certain that this book is too complex (and too boring) for more than 99% of Indian readers, just like most people cannot understand the long and boring contracts or court submissions of Indian lawyers. Regardless of being a very well-read person, it took me more than three months to finish this book.
While I do not wish to undermine the extensive research done by J. Sai Deepak, which is exemplary to say the least, I want to say that this book is not meant for ordinary readers at all. It is meant for historians and scholars. Maybe other reviewers are not being completely honest about this point.
Though the context and the author's conclusions may be considered as reasonably correct, the fact remains that more than 60% of the words in the book are not original text. They are reproductions of some other historical quotes or text. And a lot of it is repetitive.
In the conclusion on the second last page, the author writes, "The direct causal nexus, nay umbilical cord, between the global history of the European coloniality and Bharat's tryst with it, in particular in the realm of the Constitution until 1919-1920, has been reasonably fleshed out in order for the readers to use this book as a starting point for their individual enquiries into Bharat's indigenous Indic consciousness and its contemporary dual nature." I wonder how many readers will do this.
While I do not wish to undermine the extensive research done by J. Sai Deepak, which is exemplary to say the least, I want to say that this book is not meant for ordinary readers at all. It is meant for historians and scholars. Maybe other reviewers are not being completely honest about this point.
Though the context and the author's conclusions may be considered as reasonably correct, the fact remains that more than 60% of the words in the book are not original text. They are reproductions of some other historical quotes or text. And a lot of it is repetitive.
In the conclusion on the second last page, the author writes, "The direct causal nexus, nay umbilical cord, between the global history of the European coloniality and Bharat's tryst with it, in particular in the realm of the Constitution until 1919-1920, has been reasonably fleshed out in order for the readers to use this book as a starting point for their individual enquiries into Bharat's indigenous Indic consciousness and its contemporary dual nature." I wonder how many readers will do this.
November 20, 2021
3.5/5 So many thoughts.
Conservative intellectuals are less in no. and also less known in most countries. But in India there has been an acute shortage for 2 reasons:-
A) The arts, media and literature space is usually dominated by Left-liberals. In India this was neatly aligned with the dominant Congress’s ideology. And they are good at cancelling, harassing dissenting Right-Wing opinion.
B) Importantly - The RSS actively discouraged intellectualism and believed in action.
And this led to a vaccum which was especially noticeable after 2014.
————————-
So, despite having a perfectly legitimate POV on issues like CAA (not NRC), Article 370, Triple Talaq abolition etc, the Union BJP govt was unable to put forward coherent and well-constructed arguments. While they somehow managed the Indian public with emotional appeals and SM, the international perception was and is continued to be shaped by our left-liberals. Hopefully this changes with the rise of J.Sai Deepak (and Vikram Sampath).
—————————
This may perhaps be the first study of the massive colonial impact of the British on India. The book’s core idea is that while we attained political independence, our minds remain colonised. And our entire way of thinking had changed to become aligned with British mindset.
Why do I classify this as a conservative/RW intellectual book ? 2 reasons :-
A) The left-liberal intellectuals are largely Macaulay-putras - English Medium educated with a colonial mindset. A good example is the “privilege” narrative which they have copied from the West and tried to hammer in India. Or “anti-Brahminism”.
B) The author seems somewhat aligned with Hindutva. Also, ironically like soft-Islamists, he calls secularism a Western value that has been forcibly hammered on our societies. Here, I disagree with him totally.
——————————
The book itself was hardly readable with long, lawyerly sentences and took me some time and effort to read. Because the author is a renowned lawyer, the points were put across convincingly but also repeatedly. Finally, a must read if you are interested in Indian politics.
And eagerly waiting for the next one.
Conservative intellectuals are less in no. and also less known in most countries. But in India there has been an acute shortage for 2 reasons:-
A) The arts, media and literature space is usually dominated by Left-liberals. In India this was neatly aligned with the dominant Congress’s ideology. And they are good at cancelling, harassing dissenting Right-Wing opinion.
B) Importantly - The RSS actively discouraged intellectualism and believed in action.
And this led to a vaccum which was especially noticeable after 2014.
————————-
So, despite having a perfectly legitimate POV on issues like CAA (not NRC), Article 370, Triple Talaq abolition etc, the Union BJP govt was unable to put forward coherent and well-constructed arguments. While they somehow managed the Indian public with emotional appeals and SM, the international perception was and is continued to be shaped by our left-liberals. Hopefully this changes with the rise of J.Sai Deepak (and Vikram Sampath).
—————————
This may perhaps be the first study of the massive colonial impact of the British on India. The book’s core idea is that while we attained political independence, our minds remain colonised. And our entire way of thinking had changed to become aligned with British mindset.
Why do I classify this as a conservative/RW intellectual book ? 2 reasons :-
A) The left-liberal intellectuals are largely Macaulay-putras - English Medium educated with a colonial mindset. A good example is the “privilege” narrative which they have copied from the West and tried to hammer in India. Or “anti-Brahminism”.
B) The author seems somewhat aligned with Hindutva. Also, ironically like soft-Islamists, he calls secularism a Western value that has been forcibly hammered on our societies. Here, I disagree with him totally.
——————————
The book itself was hardly readable with long, lawyerly sentences and took me some time and effort to read. Because the author is a renowned lawyer, the points were put across convincingly but also repeatedly. Finally, a must read if you are interested in Indian politics.
And eagerly waiting for the next one.
September 11, 2022
Features:
1. Heavy use of leagalese
2. Lot so excerpts from old speeches and legal documents (at times taken out of context)
3. Biased outlook of history
Pros: In the initial part of the book the authors discusses Decoloniality and how it has to be applied in the Indian context. He also emphasised on need of further study of the same in the humanities. This is not objectionable.
The author is very knowledgeable and has provided first hand records of legal proceedings, discussions and documentation from 19th century to backup his claims.
Cons: even though the author has provided good legal evidence to support his claims he unfortunately has a biased outlook towards them. He starts from a position that european value systems and frameworks are inherently evil and should be discarded and makes no attempt to judge them based on their utility and looks at them purely through ideological and confrontational lenses.
He makes no attempt to understand that the humanities are inherently subjective and all the evidence that is provided by scholars of humanities is purely interpretations of observations and should be judged based on their utility in real life rather than their ideological underpinnings.
He lives in a fantasy that pre-Islamic and pre-Christian India was a utopia where everything was perfect and the invaders have destroyed every thing. There is very little effort from the author to understand history in its own terms rather than looking at it through modern lens. This may force the reader to assume that the author has a fundamentally Marxist perspective of history where history is seen as clash of civilisations and a constant struggle between groups of people. Even though the author makes it clear that he is not a Marxist, rather insists that he is an anti-Marxist, such a worldview is clearly evident from his writings.
There is good discussion about post-modernism and the coloniality and there is a clear overlap between his views and views of modern American and European, for lack of a better term, leftist literature. The author is unable to recognise this overlap especially in north American and French discourse. Because of this he is unable to understand that actions of people can be attributed to things other than malevolence.
He was able to provide “evidence” but such “evidence” is usually (not always) circumstantial and nothing but rationalisation of the people of those times to attribute their actions to some sort of spiritual endeavour to justify themselves. This is why I might suggest the author might consult psychoanalytical view of history rather than post modern.
1. Heavy use of leagalese
2. Lot so excerpts from old speeches and legal documents (at times taken out of context)
3. Biased outlook of history
Pros: In the initial part of the book the authors discusses Decoloniality and how it has to be applied in the Indian context. He also emphasised on need of further study of the same in the humanities. This is not objectionable.
The author is very knowledgeable and has provided first hand records of legal proceedings, discussions and documentation from 19th century to backup his claims.
Cons: even though the author has provided good legal evidence to support his claims he unfortunately has a biased outlook towards them. He starts from a position that european value systems and frameworks are inherently evil and should be discarded and makes no attempt to judge them based on their utility and looks at them purely through ideological and confrontational lenses.
He makes no attempt to understand that the humanities are inherently subjective and all the evidence that is provided by scholars of humanities is purely interpretations of observations and should be judged based on their utility in real life rather than their ideological underpinnings.
He lives in a fantasy that pre-Islamic and pre-Christian India was a utopia where everything was perfect and the invaders have destroyed every thing. There is very little effort from the author to understand history in its own terms rather than looking at it through modern lens. This may force the reader to assume that the author has a fundamentally Marxist perspective of history where history is seen as clash of civilisations and a constant struggle between groups of people. Even though the author makes it clear that he is not a Marxist, rather insists that he is an anti-Marxist, such a worldview is clearly evident from his writings.
There is good discussion about post-modernism and the coloniality and there is a clear overlap between his views and views of modern American and European, for lack of a better term, leftist literature. The author is unable to recognise this overlap especially in north American and French discourse. Because of this he is unable to understand that actions of people can be attributed to things other than malevolence.
He was able to provide “evidence” but such “evidence” is usually (not always) circumstantial and nothing but rationalisation of the people of those times to attribute their actions to some sort of spiritual endeavour to justify themselves. This is why I might suggest the author might consult psychoanalytical view of history rather than post modern.
August 22, 2021
Magnificent read!
September 10, 2022
J Sai Deepak's verbosity and dedication to what he dubs the Indic Civilisation is paramount. Initially, the book seemed to be a treatise on the Anti/Post-Eurocentric Decolonial school of thought with some interesting intellectual backflips(such as the one about Critical Race theory being a predecessor of the Decolonial school) and commitment to a Non-Eurocentric approach(that which discards left and right)
But soon the book descends into the expected territory; India is Aryavratha aka Bharata Varsha, Islamic colonisation disrupted Bharata. All throughout my reading, I was expecting some clarification regarding how Mr Deepak would be placing Kerala and Tamil Nadu in Bharatavarsha, given how he was ardently citing Kerala and TN in the light of Hinduism. I also found it very Ironic that the logic raised by him for rekindling a decolonised Bharatavarsha, are the same ones that he fights against when it comes to Caste.
But soon the book descends into the expected territory; India is Aryavratha aka Bharata Varsha, Islamic colonisation disrupted Bharata. All throughout my reading, I was expecting some clarification regarding how Mr Deepak would be placing Kerala and Tamil Nadu in Bharatavarsha, given how he was ardently citing Kerala and TN in the light of Hinduism. I also found it very Ironic that the logic raised by him for rekindling a decolonised Bharatavarsha, are the same ones that he fights against when it comes to Caste.
September 19, 2021
While Independence for India represented a tangible and symbolic disentanglement from the tyrannical yoke of colonisation, a free India found herself (and even after seven decades of freedom continues to find herself) inextricably, interminably and innately wedded to the constructs of colonialism. Hence an urgent and indispensable need for India as a nation represented (and continues to represent) an inculcation of a decolonial conscience rather than remaining smug in an illusory and metaphorical comfort offered by post-colonial philosophies.
We are, putting it mildly, inhabiting interesting times. A mere acknowledgment (leave alone appreciation or assertion) of our indigenous Indic roots seems to trigger a fusillade of vitriol. Commencing with stereotyping, the allegations skirt the contours of illiberalism, gird the borders of intolerance before finally concluding with perorations of conflated acculturations and imagined affiliations. Thus we have conferences and symposiums proclaiming to engage in acts of “dismantling” certain notions. Pseudo-scholars with shallow credentials and suspect motives ascend the Bully Pulpit from whence they issue thunderous proclamations which are unfortunately laughable euphemisms for garbage.
Hence Supreme Court Advocate and practicing lawyer, J. Sai Deepak ’s “India That is Bharat” comes as a timely and refreshing antidote to antiquated notions of thinking. The book lays out in an objective and lucid manner, the impact of colonialism on Bharat and some potential ways adopting which such impacts may be minimized, if not altogether, eliminated.
The book itself is compartmentalized into three sections and forms the first installment in a trilogy. The first section, titled, “Coloniality”, dwells on the rapacious nature of settler colonialism. At the heart of this Section, lies the theory of Onto-Epistemology and Theology (OET). OET refers to a critical enquiry of a knowledge based on philosophy (epistemic), and theories based on theology. In the process of colonizing a nation, the colonizer by deliberately and carefully seeks to eviscerate the indigenous OET, before substituting the same with his own set of beliefs. A carefully orchestrated substitution of the coloniser’s own values and belief system ensures more or less a total obliteration of the identity of the colonized. This substitution ensures that even after unshackling itself from colonialism, a colonized nation charts its future economic, social and cultural trajectory based on the very values and beliefs which it has spent an agonizingly long time, getting rid of. The colonial mindset unconsciously remains etched in the consciousness of the colonized. This is where the key tenet of “decolonization” comes into play. The author in alluding to decolonization relies on a plethora of works produced by decolonization scholars such as Anibal Quijano , Walter D. Mignolo , Sylvia Wynter , Ramon Grosfoguel etc.
The colonizer by labeling the colonized as heathen, soul-less and of a deprecating stock, completely fails to comprehend the faith system and culture that is the prerogative of the colonised’ A key failing of the colonizer is to totally disregard the land-ontology or the pristine and almost sacred relationship that exists between the native and her land. A relationship based on a symbiotic reciprocity. The normative Western mindset, incapable of both acknowledging and respecting such relationship proceeds to mercilessly pillage the land and enslave the native. As Sai Deepak paraphrasing the book, “The Spiritual Legacy of the American Indian” by Joseph Epes Brown , writes, “their relationship with the earth was one of ‘reciprocal appropriation’, that is to give and receive, ‘in which humans participated in the landscape while at the same time they incorporated the landscape and its inhabitants into the most fundamental human experience and understanding’. The invaders, nursing a Judeo Christian OET that places man at the pinnacle of animate and inanimate existence, not just dehumanized humanity but also objectified nature. This, in addition to a forced displacement of the indigenous education systems, also resulted in a top down imposition of Christianity, and in some cases, even a subtle and covert ‘Christianising’ of the native faith.
The process of substituting Western OET for indigenous OET was rendered convenient due to a paucity of written records maintained by the native. A destruction of all places of worship by the colonizer placed him in a convenient position to manipulate the original belief system of the colonized so as to be malleable to the former’s own motives. This also accorded an opportunity for the colonizer to mock the OET of the colonized as abstruse and apocryphal flights of fancy. When it came to “Bharat” such attempts at obfuscation assumed menacing proportions. Drawing on the theology birthed by the Protestant Reformist Movement , the British placed all the civic and societal problems plaguing Bharat firmly at the doorstep of “Brahminism.” Brahminism thus became a convenient and unwitting scapegoat against which many irrelevant axes could be ground. This tendency, unfortunately prevails even to this day as one of most cliched phrases in social media talks about, “smashing Brahminical patriarchy.”
With a view to ameliorating the malevolent designs of colonialism from constantly festering in the psyche of policy making mavens and the common man alike, decolonization attempts to “release production of knowledge from the stranglehold of the West, which could lead to greater diversity of thought and subjectivity, in particular, resurgence and re-existence of indigenous perspective.” The primary goals of decolonization as articulated by Sai Deepak include an untethering from the moorings of identity politics and a conclusive escape from the entrenched dogmas of exclusionary ethnocentrism (race politics in short).
Section 2 of the book bearing the heading “Civilisation” strives to demonstrate how Bharat’s consciousness was impacted during the nation’s prolonged tryst with colonialism, coloniality and Colonisation. In arriving at informed conclusions and educated opinions, Sai Deepak draws liberally from the works of Dr. Balagangadhara , Professor emeritus of the Ghent University in Belgium, and Dr. Jakob De Roover , an Assistant Professor at Ghent University, Belgium. Sai Deepak while disagreeing with the Marxian claims of colonialism aiding and abetting development by way of establishing rail links etc, does not devote much space for rebutting this reformist tone of arguments. The intrepid and the intrigued may refer to the brilliant book “Inglorious Empire” by Shashi Tharoor , for an illuminating discussion of the subject. Instead Sai Deepak concentrates on the tools of “subalternalism” employed by the British to create divisions and fissures within the indigenous subconsciousness. Sai Deepak also vociferously strives to nullify the proposition that India did not possess an identity as a nation state prior to the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. This antiquarian fallacy has received amplification from many Western scholars such as the likes of John Strachey who averred that ‘there is not and never was an India, or even any country of India, possessing, according to European ideas, any sort of unity, physical or political’. The polarization associated with such a controversial postulation may be gauged by contrasting opinions espoused by other Western authorities and Indologists. For example, Vincent Arthur Smith and George Chisholm boldly claim “India, encircled as she is by seas and mountains, is indisputably a geographical unit, and as such is rightly designated by one name...”
The British, Sai Deepak argues, proceeded to systematically promulgate a series of statutes and legislations, which while outwardly positing a veneer of liberalism, were in fact devious mechanisms to strip the last vestiges of indigeneity characterizing the fabric of pre-Independence India. Even after Independence, the burnished language of colonialism remained intact. Justifying the encroachment into Indian land and usurpation of sacred Indian territory by the adventurous Chinese, the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, incredulously remarked that the land occupied by the Chinese was where not a single blade of grass grew and constituted territory that was useless and uninhabitable. There cannot be a more searing example of the sacred land ontology being elided out of the human consciousness.
Clergymen and zealots in the garb of missionaries also played their bit exemplarily well in endeavouring to eviscerate Indic OET. Claudius Buchanan a Scottish clergyman credited with corruption of the word “Jagannath” to “juggernaut”, portrayed Hinduism as a ‘bloody, violent, superstitious and backward religious system’, which required an immediate ‘social reform’. Brahmins again were the favourite whipping boys against whom cudgels could be wielded with gay abandon and elan. Conflating the Devadasi tradition with prostitution, the Britishers equated temples with sites of prostitution and hence vociferously advocated a State takeover of the management and affairs. This debauched caricature of Brahminism and Brahmins was even categorised under an esoteric term ‘priestcraft’.
The sad and unfortunate precedent of unwarranted, interference with the religious practices continues to this day with many Governments in states such as Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh going to illogical lengths to intrude in the management of the affairs of temples by enacting the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Regulations. These statutes provide unfettered powers to the concerned State Government to assume the control, management, affairs and assets of Hindu temples. Interestingly Sai Deepak himself is at the forefront of a litigation against these draconian and anti-diluvian measures and the matter currently is pending adjudication by the Apex Court.
The dangerous lengths to which even the colonized embraced the EOT representing a normative Western framework is highlighted in chilling fashion by Sai Deepak by reproducing a letter issued by the founder of the Brahmo Samaj, Raja Ram Mohun Roy , to the then Governor-General in Council, bemoaning the British intent to establish a Sanskrit educational institution. While the abuse of a venerable language such as Sanskrit by an ignorant and condescending elitist such as Thomas Babington Macaulay should come as no surprise to anyone possessing even a shard of literacy, it is downright lamentable, that a person of the stature of Mohun Roy protested and railed against the dissemination of Sanskrit. “The Sangscrit language, so difficult that almost a lifetime is necessary for its perfect acquisition, is well known to have been for ages, a lamentable check for the diffusion of knowledge; and the learning concealed under this almost impervious veil is far from sufficient to reward the labour for acquiring it…Again, no essential benefit can be derived by the student of Meemangsa from knowledge what it is that makes the killer of a goat sinless on pronouncing certain passages of the Veds, and what is the real nature and operative influence of passages of the Ved, etc.”
These institutions of learning also furthered the objectives of proselytization and conversion by appealing not just to the allure of a native language but also to the innocence of an unsuspecting populace. The introduction of the Bible as a compulsory part of the curricula, bears ample testimony to this fact.
The final part of the book traces the events leading to the establishment of the Government of India Act, 1919, the first concrete legislation that mulled the drafting of a Constitution for India with the objective of paving the way for self-governance. Even this exertion had at its underpinning a universalized Western standard of civilization that deemed Indic EOT as mainly rooted in bias, prejudices and superstitions. The Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms in fact had the temerity to propose that unless and until India confirmed to such universalized tenets, (assumed to be a vital pre-requisite for a ‘civilised’ nation), it would be deemed ‘unready’ for governance. This preposterous notion received a stinging rebuke from the lambent Lala Lajpat Rai.
Part 3 of the book is particularly relevant in the context of recent developments such as the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, enactment of the CAA/NRC legislation etc. The reactions to the passing of these Bills have ranged from the sublime to the silly and asinine to the alarming. But they have all signified one unmistakable truth – that the attribute of colonialism is not just a detritus or a residue influencing the thought process of our nation. It is a powerful, pulsating and possessing force exercising and exerting its influence in a myriad of ways, overt and covert.
The research undergirding the book is exhausting and humongous. The sources mined are diverse and it comes as no surprise that the notes to the book are capable of constituting a stand-alone block of precocious resources for further embellishing and distilling one’s knowledge in the domains of decolonization and Indic OET. The fact that Sai Deepak is an autodidact in so far as this sphere of knowledge goes, makes it all the more fascinating. Sai Deepak also brings to bear his enviable experience in the field of Constitutional Law and his involvement with some of the most controversial and path breaking cases that have warranted the attention of the Apex Court in recent times, such as the Sabarimala Case and the HRCE Rulings.
“India That is Bharat” - Rapturous in sweep; reverberating in wake!
We are, putting it mildly, inhabiting interesting times. A mere acknowledgment (leave alone appreciation or assertion) of our indigenous Indic roots seems to trigger a fusillade of vitriol. Commencing with stereotyping, the allegations skirt the contours of illiberalism, gird the borders of intolerance before finally concluding with perorations of conflated acculturations and imagined affiliations. Thus we have conferences and symposiums proclaiming to engage in acts of “dismantling” certain notions. Pseudo-scholars with shallow credentials and suspect motives ascend the Bully Pulpit from whence they issue thunderous proclamations which are unfortunately laughable euphemisms for garbage.
Hence Supreme Court Advocate and practicing lawyer, J. Sai Deepak ’s “India That is Bharat” comes as a timely and refreshing antidote to antiquated notions of thinking. The book lays out in an objective and lucid manner, the impact of colonialism on Bharat and some potential ways adopting which such impacts may be minimized, if not altogether, eliminated.
The book itself is compartmentalized into three sections and forms the first installment in a trilogy. The first section, titled, “Coloniality”, dwells on the rapacious nature of settler colonialism. At the heart of this Section, lies the theory of Onto-Epistemology and Theology (OET). OET refers to a critical enquiry of a knowledge based on philosophy (epistemic), and theories based on theology. In the process of colonizing a nation, the colonizer by deliberately and carefully seeks to eviscerate the indigenous OET, before substituting the same with his own set of beliefs. A carefully orchestrated substitution of the coloniser’s own values and belief system ensures more or less a total obliteration of the identity of the colonized. This substitution ensures that even after unshackling itself from colonialism, a colonized nation charts its future economic, social and cultural trajectory based on the very values and beliefs which it has spent an agonizingly long time, getting rid of. The colonial mindset unconsciously remains etched in the consciousness of the colonized. This is where the key tenet of “decolonization” comes into play. The author in alluding to decolonization relies on a plethora of works produced by decolonization scholars such as Anibal Quijano , Walter D. Mignolo , Sylvia Wynter , Ramon Grosfoguel etc.
The colonizer by labeling the colonized as heathen, soul-less and of a deprecating stock, completely fails to comprehend the faith system and culture that is the prerogative of the colonised’ A key failing of the colonizer is to totally disregard the land-ontology or the pristine and almost sacred relationship that exists between the native and her land. A relationship based on a symbiotic reciprocity. The normative Western mindset, incapable of both acknowledging and respecting such relationship proceeds to mercilessly pillage the land and enslave the native. As Sai Deepak paraphrasing the book, “The Spiritual Legacy of the American Indian” by Joseph Epes Brown , writes, “their relationship with the earth was one of ‘reciprocal appropriation’, that is to give and receive, ‘in which humans participated in the landscape while at the same time they incorporated the landscape and its inhabitants into the most fundamental human experience and understanding’. The invaders, nursing a Judeo Christian OET that places man at the pinnacle of animate and inanimate existence, not just dehumanized humanity but also objectified nature. This, in addition to a forced displacement of the indigenous education systems, also resulted in a top down imposition of Christianity, and in some cases, even a subtle and covert ‘Christianising’ of the native faith.
The process of substituting Western OET for indigenous OET was rendered convenient due to a paucity of written records maintained by the native. A destruction of all places of worship by the colonizer placed him in a convenient position to manipulate the original belief system of the colonized so as to be malleable to the former’s own motives. This also accorded an opportunity for the colonizer to mock the OET of the colonized as abstruse and apocryphal flights of fancy. When it came to “Bharat” such attempts at obfuscation assumed menacing proportions. Drawing on the theology birthed by the Protestant Reformist Movement , the British placed all the civic and societal problems plaguing Bharat firmly at the doorstep of “Brahminism.” Brahminism thus became a convenient and unwitting scapegoat against which many irrelevant axes could be ground. This tendency, unfortunately prevails even to this day as one of most cliched phrases in social media talks about, “smashing Brahminical patriarchy.”
With a view to ameliorating the malevolent designs of colonialism from constantly festering in the psyche of policy making mavens and the common man alike, decolonization attempts to “release production of knowledge from the stranglehold of the West, which could lead to greater diversity of thought and subjectivity, in particular, resurgence and re-existence of indigenous perspective.” The primary goals of decolonization as articulated by Sai Deepak include an untethering from the moorings of identity politics and a conclusive escape from the entrenched dogmas of exclusionary ethnocentrism (race politics in short).
Section 2 of the book bearing the heading “Civilisation” strives to demonstrate how Bharat’s consciousness was impacted during the nation’s prolonged tryst with colonialism, coloniality and Colonisation. In arriving at informed conclusions and educated opinions, Sai Deepak draws liberally from the works of Dr. Balagangadhara , Professor emeritus of the Ghent University in Belgium, and Dr. Jakob De Roover , an Assistant Professor at Ghent University, Belgium. Sai Deepak while disagreeing with the Marxian claims of colonialism aiding and abetting development by way of establishing rail links etc, does not devote much space for rebutting this reformist tone of arguments. The intrepid and the intrigued may refer to the brilliant book “Inglorious Empire” by Shashi Tharoor , for an illuminating discussion of the subject. Instead Sai Deepak concentrates on the tools of “subalternalism” employed by the British to create divisions and fissures within the indigenous subconsciousness. Sai Deepak also vociferously strives to nullify the proposition that India did not possess an identity as a nation state prior to the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. This antiquarian fallacy has received amplification from many Western scholars such as the likes of John Strachey who averred that ‘there is not and never was an India, or even any country of India, possessing, according to European ideas, any sort of unity, physical or political’. The polarization associated with such a controversial postulation may be gauged by contrasting opinions espoused by other Western authorities and Indologists. For example, Vincent Arthur Smith and George Chisholm boldly claim “India, encircled as she is by seas and mountains, is indisputably a geographical unit, and as such is rightly designated by one name...”
The British, Sai Deepak argues, proceeded to systematically promulgate a series of statutes and legislations, which while outwardly positing a veneer of liberalism, were in fact devious mechanisms to strip the last vestiges of indigeneity characterizing the fabric of pre-Independence India. Even after Independence, the burnished language of colonialism remained intact. Justifying the encroachment into Indian land and usurpation of sacred Indian territory by the adventurous Chinese, the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, incredulously remarked that the land occupied by the Chinese was where not a single blade of grass grew and constituted territory that was useless and uninhabitable. There cannot be a more searing example of the sacred land ontology being elided out of the human consciousness.
Clergymen and zealots in the garb of missionaries also played their bit exemplarily well in endeavouring to eviscerate Indic OET. Claudius Buchanan a Scottish clergyman credited with corruption of the word “Jagannath” to “juggernaut”, portrayed Hinduism as a ‘bloody, violent, superstitious and backward religious system’, which required an immediate ‘social reform’. Brahmins again were the favourite whipping boys against whom cudgels could be wielded with gay abandon and elan. Conflating the Devadasi tradition with prostitution, the Britishers equated temples with sites of prostitution and hence vociferously advocated a State takeover of the management and affairs. This debauched caricature of Brahminism and Brahmins was even categorised under an esoteric term ‘priestcraft’.
The sad and unfortunate precedent of unwarranted, interference with the religious practices continues to this day with many Governments in states such as Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh going to illogical lengths to intrude in the management of the affairs of temples by enacting the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Regulations. These statutes provide unfettered powers to the concerned State Government to assume the control, management, affairs and assets of Hindu temples. Interestingly Sai Deepak himself is at the forefront of a litigation against these draconian and anti-diluvian measures and the matter currently is pending adjudication by the Apex Court.
The dangerous lengths to which even the colonized embraced the EOT representing a normative Western framework is highlighted in chilling fashion by Sai Deepak by reproducing a letter issued by the founder of the Brahmo Samaj, Raja Ram Mohun Roy , to the then Governor-General in Council, bemoaning the British intent to establish a Sanskrit educational institution. While the abuse of a venerable language such as Sanskrit by an ignorant and condescending elitist such as Thomas Babington Macaulay should come as no surprise to anyone possessing even a shard of literacy, it is downright lamentable, that a person of the stature of Mohun Roy protested and railed against the dissemination of Sanskrit. “The Sangscrit language, so difficult that almost a lifetime is necessary for its perfect acquisition, is well known to have been for ages, a lamentable check for the diffusion of knowledge; and the learning concealed under this almost impervious veil is far from sufficient to reward the labour for acquiring it…Again, no essential benefit can be derived by the student of Meemangsa from knowledge what it is that makes the killer of a goat sinless on pronouncing certain passages of the Veds, and what is the real nature and operative influence of passages of the Ved, etc.”
These institutions of learning also furthered the objectives of proselytization and conversion by appealing not just to the allure of a native language but also to the innocence of an unsuspecting populace. The introduction of the Bible as a compulsory part of the curricula, bears ample testimony to this fact.
The final part of the book traces the events leading to the establishment of the Government of India Act, 1919, the first concrete legislation that mulled the drafting of a Constitution for India with the objective of paving the way for self-governance. Even this exertion had at its underpinning a universalized Western standard of civilization that deemed Indic EOT as mainly rooted in bias, prejudices and superstitions. The Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms in fact had the temerity to propose that unless and until India confirmed to such universalized tenets, (assumed to be a vital pre-requisite for a ‘civilised’ nation), it would be deemed ‘unready’ for governance. This preposterous notion received a stinging rebuke from the lambent Lala Lajpat Rai.
Part 3 of the book is particularly relevant in the context of recent developments such as the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, enactment of the CAA/NRC legislation etc. The reactions to the passing of these Bills have ranged from the sublime to the silly and asinine to the alarming. But they have all signified one unmistakable truth – that the attribute of colonialism is not just a detritus or a residue influencing the thought process of our nation. It is a powerful, pulsating and possessing force exercising and exerting its influence in a myriad of ways, overt and covert.
The research undergirding the book is exhausting and humongous. The sources mined are diverse and it comes as no surprise that the notes to the book are capable of constituting a stand-alone block of precocious resources for further embellishing and distilling one’s knowledge in the domains of decolonization and Indic OET. The fact that Sai Deepak is an autodidact in so far as this sphere of knowledge goes, makes it all the more fascinating. Sai Deepak also brings to bear his enviable experience in the field of Constitutional Law and his involvement with some of the most controversial and path breaking cases that have warranted the attention of the Apex Court in recent times, such as the Sabarimala Case and the HRCE Rulings.
“India That is Bharat” - Rapturous in sweep; reverberating in wake!
October 18, 2021
It was a really insightful read. One need too much dedication and attentiveness while reading. If you are thinking to begin your reading journey in Indic Genre then you, as a beginner, must avoid the book but once you think you are ready for this one then you must not wait for even a second!
September 17, 2022
Someone gave me the second book in the trilogy, so I decided to buy the first book. When I started reading the book, I realized I had made a mistake.
For one, the author's focus is narrow.
- He assumes that a country is like a balance sheet, a static frame. This is incorrect because a country, a nation, flows.
- He assumes that only Hindus make up India (Bharat). He ignores the contributions of Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, and Sikhs. This is narrow.
The use of the word "Bharat" is artificial. Even the Chinese refer to their country as "China" when they speak English and "Zhong Guo" when they speak Chinese.
The author throws a lot of facts at you and fills the book with quotations.
There is a lot of data but no wisdom.
There is a lot of cleverness but no insight.
Read the book only for the quotations and for nothing else.
The writing is turgid and self-important. There is no logical flow in the narrative.
For one, the author's focus is narrow.
- He assumes that a country is like a balance sheet, a static frame. This is incorrect because a country, a nation, flows.
- He assumes that only Hindus make up India (Bharat). He ignores the contributions of Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, and Sikhs. This is narrow.
The use of the word "Bharat" is artificial. Even the Chinese refer to their country as "China" when they speak English and "Zhong Guo" when they speak Chinese.
The author throws a lot of facts at you and fills the book with quotations.
There is a lot of data but no wisdom.
There is a lot of cleverness but no insight.
Read the book only for the quotations and for nothing else.
The writing is turgid and self-important. There is no logical flow in the narrative.
September 5, 2021
It is imperative on our part to refer to a uniform definition of Colonisation which is-“A subjugation process which entails various cultural and social changes”. Now, as one may surmise the definition and at the same instance comprehend its relevance and how it has been something that has been etched into our conscience and has verily hindered our ability to smite the illusions which have been put forth unto us in the name of modernity for it all has its roots in Colonisation and the book at hand tends to address the same in a very analytical fashion and a brief delineation of the same shall be done below.
The length of the book is 492 pages and has been divided into 3 sections. The first one titled “Coloniality” sets the stage for the entire debacle to continue further in the next sections.
The first section introduces the readers to the basic precepts of Colonisation and what it connotes and how the subjugation occurs. The author here has aptly presented the view as professed by scholars that society has the right to interpret coloniality and the decoloniality must be defined as something which it has experienced itself and at the same time has aptly presented the example with the pervasion that the European form of colonialism had over the world. The next chapter brings forth another trend which came in the form of a greater urge to assert a sense of autonomy and be a sovereign and the same came at the form of Native elites, but the same suffered inherent limitations for a positive digression from the pre-established precepts of independence which revolved around politico-legal sphere could not take place. The further chapters aptly present the pervasion of the European form of colonization and the relevant ways for the same which rely on institutionalizing and how the same has acted as a tool to fortify their imperatives of coloniality.
The second section features the concept of Civilisation and here the author lays bare the basic precepts of the same and comes forth with a rather poignant analysis of how the colonial consciousness has been spawned in our minds and verily juxtaposes the pervasion of European Coloniality and how the same has hindered the true recognition of the Indic Civilisation.
It must be noted that as the chapters progress further and till it ends the author has done a tremendous job setting forth a viewpoint that without a shade of doubt fleshes out certain imperatives which have guided the whole process of colonization and all the other factors which speak of its reality. The most remarkable job that the author has done is delineating the relevant facts which instill a sense of perspective in the reader and make them realize that there does exist a gap between the modernist imperative and valid reasoning behind the same, for the idea of the same stems from colonization.
It must be noted that the writing style of the author has been kept very fluid and cuts straight to the chase by shedding relevant facts whose relevance is undeniable and most importantly the whole flow of the chapters makes this book an inclusive read for the topic which the author has presented in the form of the literary work has pedantic origins which may seem very daunting at first but once the reader begins, they end with a brief sense of the order of things.
The length of the book is 492 pages and has been divided into 3 sections. The first one titled “Coloniality” sets the stage for the entire debacle to continue further in the next sections.
The first section introduces the readers to the basic precepts of Colonisation and what it connotes and how the subjugation occurs. The author here has aptly presented the view as professed by scholars that society has the right to interpret coloniality and the decoloniality must be defined as something which it has experienced itself and at the same time has aptly presented the example with the pervasion that the European form of colonialism had over the world. The next chapter brings forth another trend which came in the form of a greater urge to assert a sense of autonomy and be a sovereign and the same came at the form of Native elites, but the same suffered inherent limitations for a positive digression from the pre-established precepts of independence which revolved around politico-legal sphere could not take place. The further chapters aptly present the pervasion of the European form of colonization and the relevant ways for the same which rely on institutionalizing and how the same has acted as a tool to fortify their imperatives of coloniality.
The second section features the concept of Civilisation and here the author lays bare the basic precepts of the same and comes forth with a rather poignant analysis of how the colonial consciousness has been spawned in our minds and verily juxtaposes the pervasion of European Coloniality and how the same has hindered the true recognition of the Indic Civilisation.
It must be noted that as the chapters progress further and till it ends the author has done a tremendous job setting forth a viewpoint that without a shade of doubt fleshes out certain imperatives which have guided the whole process of colonization and all the other factors which speak of its reality. The most remarkable job that the author has done is delineating the relevant facts which instill a sense of perspective in the reader and make them realize that there does exist a gap between the modernist imperative and valid reasoning behind the same, for the idea of the same stems from colonization.
It must be noted that the writing style of the author has been kept very fluid and cuts straight to the chase by shedding relevant facts whose relevance is undeniable and most importantly the whole flow of the chapters makes this book an inclusive read for the topic which the author has presented in the form of the literary work has pedantic origins which may seem very daunting at first but once the reader begins, they end with a brief sense of the order of things.
May 31, 2022
This book fails miserably to keep the reader engaged. This book is designed for a very niche set of audience who possess enough knowledge about the historical events. All in all, one of my worst reads till date. Or maybe my intellect fell short to understand it.
October 14, 2021
It is pretty rare for a book that can be classified as very erudite to be welcomed with such pomp and praise, primarily when the book in question addresses the esoteric space of decoloniality and its implication in the Bharatiya context. And yet, that is precisely what lawyer J Sai Deepak has achieved in his first of a proposed trilogy of books on Bharat and Bharatiya consciousness.
There is so much packed within this book that it is hard for any review to do justice. The book highlights not just the author's diligent research in combing through tons of material on decolonial scholarship, laws, debates, and events that shaped the origins of India's constitution but also his unique sense of narration and coherence to tie it all together. The end result is a comprehensive examination of everything related to our civilization and how we perceive it, most notably in the spheres of religion, nature, history, education, and constitutionalism.
Split into 3 parts (as described in the title), the book weaves a thread on how coloniality, civilization, and the constitution of Bharat are intertwined. The book's overarching theme is decoloniality and why the decolonial lens is the ONLY way we need to look at our history and constitution. The following paragraphs illustrate how the author makes this case.
We get an in-depth view to understand what decoloniality means and how it differs from other schools of thought like modernism, post-modernism, and post-colonialism. Summarizing this in the author's words - "the decolonial framework seeks to reinscribe the primacy of indigeneity, indigenous consciousness and its subjectivity in formerly colonized societies and civilizations." He also explains the difference between colonization, colonialism, and coloniality and how it excludes native perspectives.
We are then exposed to the nature of colonization and how it affected the consciousness of our people to such an extent that the only way the native felt they could redeem their dignity was by "adopting European culture and thought processes". It made them forget and detest their own roots and made them think of their past and history as a colossal failure, thus undermining their self-confidence. The entire colonization process aims at universalizing and standardizing ways of life instead of allowing the diversity of different groups and societies to flourish.
This, in turn, leads one to ask how the colonizer's mindset was formed, to begin with, and it is here that we were taken back to the voyages of Christopher Columbus in the 15th century. Its fundamental Christian and proselytizing nature is elaborately delved into. The much-celebrated "Secularism" and its origins are traced to the "Peace of Westphalia" treaty. We learn how the distinction between spiritual and secular was drawn from within the Christian framework and not outside it. Today, the international laws and treaties applied to non-western "nation-states" are all rooted in Protestant Reformation-inspired Westphalian principles.
We then discover that these principles led them to a "civilizing" and "reformation" mission of the non-Christian world and thus uprooting the collective lived experiences and traditions of indigenous societies the world over. The Christian approach to nature as a means of exploitation was fundamentally the opposite of that of Indic systems that lived in harmony with nature. We are shown how the colonial approach has played out in different parts of the world, especially in Latin America and how the decolonial system needs to revisit each country's individual experience and their own history. In Bharat's case, we are introduced to Middle Eastern Coloniality as a predecessor of European coloniality and why it should be looked at through the same lens. While Middle Eastern Coloniality was defended against by the natives owing to its "in-your-face" nature, the end goals of European coloniality were much more oblivious. The author emphasizes how every stratum of our society bears a colonial stamp and why it is essential to judge all of our social structures, religion, polity, economics, and law using a decolonial approach and rejecting European-centric ideas.
In the final part, the author analyzes the role of Christian secularism and gives a sneak-peek into whether it had an influence during the framing of the Government of India act of 1919, which formed the basis for our constitution later. Debates and discussions in European parliament about the Company's role, later brought under the Queen's rule, are explored. They provide chilling insights into how the British empire wanted to subjugate the people of Bharat in all aspects. The European approach to look at Indic philosophies and traditions from their ethnocentric lens resulted in them superimposing their worldview on Indic traditions. While Sanatana Dharma encompasses all aspects of life, the Christian colonizer reduced it to be a "religion" of "books." We are made aware of how these standardizations and laws percolate to this day, resulting in government control of Hindu temples in a supposedly "secular" state.
Education is another aspect where the colonizer went to great lengths to erase any sense of pride associated with their past and history, as amply illustrated by Macaulay's famous "Minute on Education."
Even during the peak of the European colonization of Bharat, many scholars stood up prominently against it. They challenged the notion of Bharat not being a united entity before their arrival, and the author cites various examples for this. Even as late as the early 20th century, we had leaders keenly aware of this cultural continuity. He also illustrates how the framers of the constitution were aware of this civilizational consciousness which is why Article 1 of the constitution states, "India that is Bharat." Still, post Independence, this consciousness has steadily been withering away.
If there is one thing I believe the author wants the reader to take from this book, it is to be aware of our biases and internal coloniality and how we came to our present situation. Reading this book brought out my underlying disgust for British and European colonization and reaffirmed my belief in Bharatiya culture and values. The author makes a pop-culture reference to the movie Matrix in this book. I can confidently say that this book is the ultimate red pill for any Bharatiya and will completely change our perspective on how we look at Bharat forever.
There is so much packed within this book that it is hard for any review to do justice. The book highlights not just the author's diligent research in combing through tons of material on decolonial scholarship, laws, debates, and events that shaped the origins of India's constitution but also his unique sense of narration and coherence to tie it all together. The end result is a comprehensive examination of everything related to our civilization and how we perceive it, most notably in the spheres of religion, nature, history, education, and constitutionalism.
Split into 3 parts (as described in the title), the book weaves a thread on how coloniality, civilization, and the constitution of Bharat are intertwined. The book's overarching theme is decoloniality and why the decolonial lens is the ONLY way we need to look at our history and constitution. The following paragraphs illustrate how the author makes this case.
We get an in-depth view to understand what decoloniality means and how it differs from other schools of thought like modernism, post-modernism, and post-colonialism. Summarizing this in the author's words - "the decolonial framework seeks to reinscribe the primacy of indigeneity, indigenous consciousness and its subjectivity in formerly colonized societies and civilizations." He also explains the difference between colonization, colonialism, and coloniality and how it excludes native perspectives.
We are then exposed to the nature of colonization and how it affected the consciousness of our people to such an extent that the only way the native felt they could redeem their dignity was by "adopting European culture and thought processes". It made them forget and detest their own roots and made them think of their past and history as a colossal failure, thus undermining their self-confidence. The entire colonization process aims at universalizing and standardizing ways of life instead of allowing the diversity of different groups and societies to flourish.
This, in turn, leads one to ask how the colonizer's mindset was formed, to begin with, and it is here that we were taken back to the voyages of Christopher Columbus in the 15th century. Its fundamental Christian and proselytizing nature is elaborately delved into. The much-celebrated "Secularism" and its origins are traced to the "Peace of Westphalia" treaty. We learn how the distinction between spiritual and secular was drawn from within the Christian framework and not outside it. Today, the international laws and treaties applied to non-western "nation-states" are all rooted in Protestant Reformation-inspired Westphalian principles.
We then discover that these principles led them to a "civilizing" and "reformation" mission of the non-Christian world and thus uprooting the collective lived experiences and traditions of indigenous societies the world over. The Christian approach to nature as a means of exploitation was fundamentally the opposite of that of Indic systems that lived in harmony with nature. We are shown how the colonial approach has played out in different parts of the world, especially in Latin America and how the decolonial system needs to revisit each country's individual experience and their own history. In Bharat's case, we are introduced to Middle Eastern Coloniality as a predecessor of European coloniality and why it should be looked at through the same lens. While Middle Eastern Coloniality was defended against by the natives owing to its "in-your-face" nature, the end goals of European coloniality were much more oblivious. The author emphasizes how every stratum of our society bears a colonial stamp and why it is essential to judge all of our social structures, religion, polity, economics, and law using a decolonial approach and rejecting European-centric ideas.
In the final part, the author analyzes the role of Christian secularism and gives a sneak-peek into whether it had an influence during the framing of the Government of India act of 1919, which formed the basis for our constitution later. Debates and discussions in European parliament about the Company's role, later brought under the Queen's rule, are explored. They provide chilling insights into how the British empire wanted to subjugate the people of Bharat in all aspects. The European approach to look at Indic philosophies and traditions from their ethnocentric lens resulted in them superimposing their worldview on Indic traditions. While Sanatana Dharma encompasses all aspects of life, the Christian colonizer reduced it to be a "religion" of "books." We are made aware of how these standardizations and laws percolate to this day, resulting in government control of Hindu temples in a supposedly "secular" state.
Education is another aspect where the colonizer went to great lengths to erase any sense of pride associated with their past and history, as amply illustrated by Macaulay's famous "Minute on Education."
Even during the peak of the European colonization of Bharat, many scholars stood up prominently against it. They challenged the notion of Bharat not being a united entity before their arrival, and the author cites various examples for this. Even as late as the early 20th century, we had leaders keenly aware of this cultural continuity. He also illustrates how the framers of the constitution were aware of this civilizational consciousness which is why Article 1 of the constitution states, "India that is Bharat." Still, post Independence, this consciousness has steadily been withering away.
If there is one thing I believe the author wants the reader to take from this book, it is to be aware of our biases and internal coloniality and how we came to our present situation. Reading this book brought out my underlying disgust for British and European colonization and reaffirmed my belief in Bharatiya culture and values. The author makes a pop-culture reference to the movie Matrix in this book. I can confidently say that this book is the ultimate red pill for any Bharatiya and will completely change our perspective on how we look at Bharat forever.
May 13, 2023
"Loosely gathered facts trying to squeeze into a new Revised Historiography"
Appreciate the author for his effort to bring new perspective in Indian History.
Author has organized table of contents coherently.
1. So -- Where do I disagree with the author?
I do support historians from all perspectives.
I empathetically disagree with the author's historiography.
I’m afraid, bear with me patiently for disagreements.
Author could do better in his Historiography.
For example,
Author says, "Decolonial school rejects the totalising universalist claims of Europeanism in a much more balanced fashion. That is, instead of treating the European position as the sole universal benchmark, decoloniality prefers to treat it as but one of the options or subjectivities within the global pool of thought. Therefore, it rejects Europe’s monopoly over time, space and subjectivity."
According to the decolonial school, the celebration of the Age of Discovery by proponents of Europeanism, that is, European supremacism, is understandable because the period was preceded by the Dark Ages for a millennium for Europe.
After reading this, a reader would ask,
What is monopoly of Time?
What is Monopoly of Space?
I am not sure if I understand him correctly.
Does he mean, he rejects anything from the West?
If that so, Which European author is claiming universalism?
I am not able to find claims by the author.
This is straw-man.
Assume, I agree with author, I would include James Mill's History of India.
So, I would say something as follows:
James Mill's characterization of Indian History includes assumptions of Hindoos in Chapters so and so, Mill's accounts misrepresents Hindoos, here's why?
I would include this for a reader to consider his historiography more seriously.
Assume author's claims are true.
He is saying, he rejects universalism of Europeanism.
He wants to keep it as one of the views among others.
In that case, his work would also be considered one among many other views, correct?
In that case, "Why consider his writing, which is one among many other views more seriously than other works, if it's only an opinion?"
I can only think of when the Author claims towards, "Truth"
Furthermore, I notice overgeneralization in his writing.
For example, He concludes a passage to European supremacism.
Why call them with derogatory names?
Historians don't use the term Dark ages anymore.
So to conclude, The Historiography method of author is rushed.
There is no proper analysis with wider sources for his approach.
He can refer K.A.N Sastri's work on Historical method in relation to problems of South Indian history.
a. Most of the sources he choses for his work is one-sided
b. The sources for his work eg: Chapter 6's Bharat, Coloniality and Colonial consciousness to be from only his own point of view
c. Instead, what he could do is to bring wide perspective, show how, "De-colonial perspective" is more historically rooted
2. So, How does one build De-colonial Historiography?
1. Firstly, Include schools of historiography and sources
2. Secondly, describe disagreements with other school of thoughts and methods
3. Assume, it's Marxist historiography, which author disagrees in his writing, talks
4. He can say, "We disagree with viewing history as class-struggle"
5. After communicating he disagrees, he can describe reasons
6. a First Reason, it is oversimplification.
Because, Marxism uses historical determinism in its method.
Using historical determinism for describe history through only economic criteria is oversimplification
6. b. Second Reason, class struggle doesn't include social parameters like beliefs, religion, people's worldview
6. c. Third Reason, historical determinism does not power of individual agency.
You and I have agency to move our life towards another direction
6. d. Something describe above, He'd have to proceed with "De-colonialist" historiography
7. Let's say, he wants to bring methods from Hindu Philosophy for De-colonialist historiography
8. Now, nothing wrong in bringing a method from this.
However, one must prove how it is better than others.
One must show it's strength
Here's an image to describe what I needed to communicate:
So, What are existing Historiography schools?
a) Marxist
b) Annales
c) American
d) Hegel
e) Plutarch
f) Whig
3. Can you explain briefly?
⚫️Marxist: Class Struggle
Focus on economic structure, famous lexicon, “bourgeoisie”
⚫️ Annales: Total Society
Focus on interdisciplinary brings economics, psychology et al.
⚫️ Progressive: Progress
Past is viewed as conflict between various groups.
Progress, optimist about future
⚫️ Consensus: Unity and American values
American values -- individual freedom, autonomy, self-reliance, accumulation of boat loads of money
Broader American society holds this view.
⚫️ New Left: Bottom-up approach
Focus on less fortunate, In Indian history, ignore elites, view future as pessimistic
Plutarch: Head of all Historians
"Historian of Historians,"
Focus on character, destiny of famous men, character of men, changes history.
⚫️ Hegel: Rational view of history
thesis-anti-thesis-synthesis approach
Uses words like Dialectic, mind, spirit, culture, idea of freedom.
⚫️ Whig: Present is Glorious State
4. So, What else?
Professional historians might write from any historiography.
Now that itself doesn't make their entire work go into abyss, no, no, no.
No, because one writes from Annales or Marxist, doesn't make the work itself fall apart.
One goes deep into their work,
sees if matches up and if it doesn't,
one writes a detailed rebuttal on how it falls apart.
eg:
Tapan Raychaudhuri's Economic History of India
I assumed him, writing from Marixst Historiography is going to be filled with ideology only.
However, I was wrong, I found his work filled with crucial information.
This is for anyone to understand economic history of India.
5. So, Who would you recommend this work?
If one wants to learn about political ideologies, I'd suggest this work.
Deus Vult,
Gottfried
Appreciate the author for his effort to bring new perspective in Indian History.
Author has organized table of contents coherently.
1. So -- Where do I disagree with the author?
I do support historians from all perspectives.
I empathetically disagree with the author's historiography.
I’m afraid, bear with me patiently for disagreements.
Author could do better in his Historiography.
For example,
Author says, "Decolonial school rejects the totalising universalist claims of Europeanism in a much more balanced fashion. That is, instead of treating the European position as the sole universal benchmark, decoloniality prefers to treat it as but one of the options or subjectivities within the global pool of thought. Therefore, it rejects Europe’s monopoly over time, space and subjectivity."
According to the decolonial school, the celebration of the Age of Discovery by proponents of Europeanism, that is, European supremacism, is understandable because the period was preceded by the Dark Ages for a millennium for Europe.
After reading this, a reader would ask,
What is monopoly of Time?
What is Monopoly of Space?
I am not sure if I understand him correctly.
Does he mean, he rejects anything from the West?
If that so, Which European author is claiming universalism?
I am not able to find claims by the author.
This is straw-man.
Assume, I agree with author, I would include James Mill's History of India.
So, I would say something as follows:
James Mill's characterization of Indian History includes assumptions of Hindoos in Chapters so and so, Mill's accounts misrepresents Hindoos, here's why?
I would include this for a reader to consider his historiography more seriously.
Assume author's claims are true.
He is saying, he rejects universalism of Europeanism.
He wants to keep it as one of the views among others.
In that case, his work would also be considered one among many other views, correct?
In that case, "Why consider his writing, which is one among many other views more seriously than other works, if it's only an opinion?"
I can only think of when the Author claims towards, "Truth"
Furthermore, I notice overgeneralization in his writing.
For example, He concludes a passage to European supremacism.
Why call them with derogatory names?
Historians don't use the term Dark ages anymore.
So to conclude, The Historiography method of author is rushed.
There is no proper analysis with wider sources for his approach.
He can refer K.A.N Sastri's work on Historical method in relation to problems of South Indian history.
a. Most of the sources he choses for his work is one-sided
b. The sources for his work eg: Chapter 6's Bharat, Coloniality and Colonial consciousness to be from only his own point of view
c. Instead, what he could do is to bring wide perspective, show how, "De-colonial perspective" is more historically rooted
2. So, How does one build De-colonial Historiography?
1. Firstly, Include schools of historiography and sources
2. Secondly, describe disagreements with other school of thoughts and methods
3. Assume, it's Marxist historiography, which author disagrees in his writing, talks
4. He can say, "We disagree with viewing history as class-struggle"
5. After communicating he disagrees, he can describe reasons
6. a First Reason, it is oversimplification.
Because, Marxism uses historical determinism in its method.
Using historical determinism for describe history through only economic criteria is oversimplification
6. b. Second Reason, class struggle doesn't include social parameters like beliefs, religion, people's worldview
6. c. Third Reason, historical determinism does not power of individual agency.
You and I have agency to move our life towards another direction
6. d. Something describe above, He'd have to proceed with "De-colonialist" historiography
7. Let's say, he wants to bring methods from Hindu Philosophy for De-colonialist historiography
8. Now, nothing wrong in bringing a method from this.
However, one must prove how it is better than others.
One must show it's strength
Here's an image to describe what I needed to communicate:
So, What are existing Historiography schools?
a) Marxist
b) Annales
c) American
d) Hegel
e) Plutarch
f) Whig
3. Can you explain briefly?
⚫️Marxist: Class Struggle
Focus on economic structure, famous lexicon, “bourgeoisie”
⚫️ Annales: Total Society
Focus on interdisciplinary brings economics, psychology et al.
⚫️ Progressive: Progress
Past is viewed as conflict between various groups.
Progress, optimist about future
⚫️ Consensus: Unity and American values
American values -- individual freedom, autonomy, self-reliance, accumulation of boat loads of money
Broader American society holds this view.
⚫️ New Left: Bottom-up approach
Focus on less fortunate, In Indian history, ignore elites, view future as pessimistic
Plutarch: Head of all Historians
"Historian of Historians,"
Focus on character, destiny of famous men, character of men, changes history.
⚫️ Hegel: Rational view of history
thesis-anti-thesis-synthesis approach
Uses words like Dialectic, mind, spirit, culture, idea of freedom.
⚫️ Whig: Present is Glorious State
4. So, What else?
Professional historians might write from any historiography.
Now that itself doesn't make their entire work go into abyss, no, no, no.
No, because one writes from Annales or Marxist, doesn't make the work itself fall apart.
One goes deep into their work,
sees if matches up and if it doesn't,
one writes a detailed rebuttal on how it falls apart.
eg:
Tapan Raychaudhuri's Economic History of India
I assumed him, writing from Marixst Historiography is going to be filled with ideology only.
However, I was wrong, I found his work filled with crucial information.
This is for anyone to understand economic history of India.
5. So, Who would you recommend this work?
If one wants to learn about political ideologies, I'd suggest this work.
Deus Vult,
Gottfried
December 31, 2022
Difficult to read but indeed thought provoking, enlightening(okay I should not use this word) and afcourse helps us to shed colonial baggage to wear a different lens altogether to see history and contemporary development in a different way. In next 50 to 70 years this book and the upcoming works of the author will be considered monumental in shaping the society the way its going to become.
September 26, 2021
India that is Bharat
Coloniality, Civilisation and Constitution by J Sai Deepak
Ever since J Sai Deepak announced his plans to write a book on the Indic Civilisation and the effect of Coloniality on it and the constitution of Bharat, I was eager to get my hands on it. The book has delivered on all its promises and more and how.
Before I review this book, I'd like to elucidate how difficult it is to review such a book as it poses more questions to the reader than it answers, it poses difficult, uncomfortable and yet very relevant and pertinent questions to the individual, the groups and the society as a whole and makes us question everything in our country from the administration of a Village Panchayat to the administration of our nation, from the mindset of the elite to that of the common man, from our approach to education to foreign policy, from our perspective on environment to development and much more. It is in this context that I put forward my review on a scholarly work which has perhaps arrived 40-50 years too late but is still going to be the bedrock on which all our future actions will build on to reclaim our glorious civilization and put it on a path that leads it to heights hitherto unheard. This absolutely brilliant piece of scholarship from Deepak I hope is only a beginning on this front from him and many others like him.
The books deals with three aspects with the first of them being Coloniality. While I had knowledge of colonialism, like most others in India and British Colonialism to be precise, but had never heard of 'Coloniality'. Deepak wonderfully explains what is Coloniality and provides definitions from various authors and goes on to explain how Coloniality still pervades most of the colonised world and shows how Bharat is no exception to it.
He then introduces 'Decoloniality', what it means, its origins and refers to the scholarship works on it. Decoloniality was first coined in Latin America and was first proposed in the 1980's and is now spread to South America and most parts of Africa. He goes on to explain in great detail what is decoloniality, it's methods of working, it's desired outcomes and its effect on society. He also goes on to explain it's importance to Bharat and it's civilisational existence. However, what surprises me most on Decoloniality is we in Bharat have never heard about it or have an idea that such a school of thought exists and what it's implications are formerly colonised societies.
Introducing such an absolutely brilliant school of thought to Bharat, illustrating it's need and significance to a civilisation that is in dire need of intellectual capacity is in itself a huge achievement of Deepak and he doesn't stop there. He uses it illustrate to us it's civilisational relevance and puts a mirror to our face to show the true extent of Coloniality in our state and the urgent need to shed us off of this demon that has pervaded us in every aspect of society.
This brings him to the second section of the book - 'Civilisation'. Here he talks about various aspects Christian OET (Onto Epistemological Thelogy) and it's colonising nature along with the existing Indic OETs of the time and how they were systematically destroyed by the White European Coloniser and it's successor Western Imperialism. He traces the roots of this ideology to 1493 CE and the age of enlightenment in Christian Europe and not the 18th century as widely believed when the English first setup trading posts in Bharat. He clearly demonstrates how it was Christian beliefs about race and superiority were the driving factors behind the colonial nature of European forces and that everything else was simply a by-product of that colonising nature.
In this section he produces first hand material of various Christian bishops, leaders of states and provides the reader with first hand information on what the true nature and intent of colonialism was and goes on to show how present day nation states have a distinct Christian nature to them. He also shows us how the clashes between Roman Catholics and Protestants were the reason for various modern day concepts of 'Church and State', secularism, tolerance etc.
However, the most important aspect of this section and the aspect where Deepak's brilliance shine through are where he discusses how the Christian OET was used to understand indigenous communities world over and Indic society with regard to Bharat. His brilliance with regard understanding the Christian nature of the Coloniser his acts of aggression, suppression against the native communities of Bharat and his Cartesian dual approach to mankind and clearly communicate to the reader the lens with which the coloniser looked at Indic communities are the outstanding contributions he will do for generations of Bharatiyas to come.
Finally, he comes to the period of 19th century and onwards, which forms the third part of his book - Constitution, and what secular in the coloniser conscious meant and what is the effect of it on the present day lives of Bharatiyas. He again very clearly demonstrates with original transcriptions of Parliamentary debates, letters between various church officials and British officials and how Christian values were subtly but surely introduced in Bharat and what the intent and ultimate aim was of the Coloniser and how they wanted to achieve that.
He goes into great detail on the Government of India acts of 1813, 1853, 1858 and the first Constitution of India of 1919 and what was the basis of their formation, their intent, their methods of achieving it and how they planned to support proselytisation through various missionaries. Here, the brilliance of Deepak the lawyer and student of law shines brightly through the such that the entire left-liberal gang will be thrown into the obscurities of dark hell (pun entirely intended).
He finally shows us how Protestant Christian values were universalied through international laws, the League of Nations and other such world bodies and how it affects everyone even today and especially Bharat as it is the only standing civilisation since the dawn of Christianity and Islam.
This is book is going to be remembered as the first attempt of decolonising the Indian mind and it is the very first step in what is a very long journey to decoloniality as Deepak points out Bharat has two colonialities in its present form and we will have to go as far as back as the 8th century to fully achieve decolonisation.
However, the beauty of the book doesn't lie in its use of complex English terms, or Deepak's brilliance in matters of civilisation or his skills as a lawyer. Neither does it lie in his understanding of Christian nature and intent of the European Coloniser or in his ability to put it down in the form of a scholarly book. The beauty entirely lies in the ugly, uncomfortable and often terrifying and spine chilling questions it poses to the reader and how those questions put a mirror to the Indic society and the petrifying form of its present state of existence.
Finally, just as the Bhagavad Gita has been the guiding light and continues to be so for a multitude of generations of Bharatiyas, this book is going to be a beacon of light for all of us on the Indic side and is but the first light and a ray of hope for all surviving Indic communities for a path towards complete decoloniality that will ultimately lead to the reflourishing of the Indic Civilisation across the sacred geography of Bharat and world over.
Coloniality, Civilisation and Constitution by J Sai Deepak
Ever since J Sai Deepak announced his plans to write a book on the Indic Civilisation and the effect of Coloniality on it and the constitution of Bharat, I was eager to get my hands on it. The book has delivered on all its promises and more and how.
Before I review this book, I'd like to elucidate how difficult it is to review such a book as it poses more questions to the reader than it answers, it poses difficult, uncomfortable and yet very relevant and pertinent questions to the individual, the groups and the society as a whole and makes us question everything in our country from the administration of a Village Panchayat to the administration of our nation, from the mindset of the elite to that of the common man, from our approach to education to foreign policy, from our perspective on environment to development and much more. It is in this context that I put forward my review on a scholarly work which has perhaps arrived 40-50 years too late but is still going to be the bedrock on which all our future actions will build on to reclaim our glorious civilization and put it on a path that leads it to heights hitherto unheard. This absolutely brilliant piece of scholarship from Deepak I hope is only a beginning on this front from him and many others like him.
The books deals with three aspects with the first of them being Coloniality. While I had knowledge of colonialism, like most others in India and British Colonialism to be precise, but had never heard of 'Coloniality'. Deepak wonderfully explains what is Coloniality and provides definitions from various authors and goes on to explain how Coloniality still pervades most of the colonised world and shows how Bharat is no exception to it.
He then introduces 'Decoloniality', what it means, its origins and refers to the scholarship works on it. Decoloniality was first coined in Latin America and was first proposed in the 1980's and is now spread to South America and most parts of Africa. He goes on to explain in great detail what is decoloniality, it's methods of working, it's desired outcomes and its effect on society. He also goes on to explain it's importance to Bharat and it's civilisational existence. However, what surprises me most on Decoloniality is we in Bharat have never heard about it or have an idea that such a school of thought exists and what it's implications are formerly colonised societies.
Introducing such an absolutely brilliant school of thought to Bharat, illustrating it's need and significance to a civilisation that is in dire need of intellectual capacity is in itself a huge achievement of Deepak and he doesn't stop there. He uses it illustrate to us it's civilisational relevance and puts a mirror to our face to show the true extent of Coloniality in our state and the urgent need to shed us off of this demon that has pervaded us in every aspect of society.
This brings him to the second section of the book - 'Civilisation'. Here he talks about various aspects Christian OET (Onto Epistemological Thelogy) and it's colonising nature along with the existing Indic OETs of the time and how they were systematically destroyed by the White European Coloniser and it's successor Western Imperialism. He traces the roots of this ideology to 1493 CE and the age of enlightenment in Christian Europe and not the 18th century as widely believed when the English first setup trading posts in Bharat. He clearly demonstrates how it was Christian beliefs about race and superiority were the driving factors behind the colonial nature of European forces and that everything else was simply a by-product of that colonising nature.
In this section he produces first hand material of various Christian bishops, leaders of states and provides the reader with first hand information on what the true nature and intent of colonialism was and goes on to show how present day nation states have a distinct Christian nature to them. He also shows us how the clashes between Roman Catholics and Protestants were the reason for various modern day concepts of 'Church and State', secularism, tolerance etc.
However, the most important aspect of this section and the aspect where Deepak's brilliance shine through are where he discusses how the Christian OET was used to understand indigenous communities world over and Indic society with regard to Bharat. His brilliance with regard understanding the Christian nature of the Coloniser his acts of aggression, suppression against the native communities of Bharat and his Cartesian dual approach to mankind and clearly communicate to the reader the lens with which the coloniser looked at Indic communities are the outstanding contributions he will do for generations of Bharatiyas to come.
Finally, he comes to the period of 19th century and onwards, which forms the third part of his book - Constitution, and what secular in the coloniser conscious meant and what is the effect of it on the present day lives of Bharatiyas. He again very clearly demonstrates with original transcriptions of Parliamentary debates, letters between various church officials and British officials and how Christian values were subtly but surely introduced in Bharat and what the intent and ultimate aim was of the Coloniser and how they wanted to achieve that.
He goes into great detail on the Government of India acts of 1813, 1853, 1858 and the first Constitution of India of 1919 and what was the basis of their formation, their intent, their methods of achieving it and how they planned to support proselytisation through various missionaries. Here, the brilliance of Deepak the lawyer and student of law shines brightly through the such that the entire left-liberal gang will be thrown into the obscurities of dark hell (pun entirely intended).
He finally shows us how Protestant Christian values were universalied through international laws, the League of Nations and other such world bodies and how it affects everyone even today and especially Bharat as it is the only standing civilisation since the dawn of Christianity and Islam.
This is book is going to be remembered as the first attempt of decolonising the Indian mind and it is the very first step in what is a very long journey to decoloniality as Deepak points out Bharat has two colonialities in its present form and we will have to go as far as back as the 8th century to fully achieve decolonisation.
However, the beauty of the book doesn't lie in its use of complex English terms, or Deepak's brilliance in matters of civilisation or his skills as a lawyer. Neither does it lie in his understanding of Christian nature and intent of the European Coloniser or in his ability to put it down in the form of a scholarly book. The beauty entirely lies in the ugly, uncomfortable and often terrifying and spine chilling questions it poses to the reader and how those questions put a mirror to the Indic society and the petrifying form of its present state of existence.
Finally, just as the Bhagavad Gita has been the guiding light and continues to be so for a multitude of generations of Bharatiyas, this book is going to be a beacon of light for all of us on the Indic side and is but the first light and a ray of hope for all surviving Indic communities for a path towards complete decoloniality that will ultimately lead to the reflourishing of the Indic Civilisation across the sacred geography of Bharat and world over.
November 13, 2021
सत्येनोत्त भिता भूमिः सुरयाणोत्त भिता दयोः।
रतेनादित्या स्तिष्ठन्ति दिवि सोमो अधि शारित।
truth is the base that bears the earth;
by Surya are the heavens sustained.
By laws the Adityas stand secure;
and some holds his place in heaven
A brain fog is a symptom of whenever a person has a difficulty or concentrating clearly. Some symptoms also include anxiety and memory problems. The book surgically dissects that symptom of the COLONIAL BRAIN FOG that haunts the Indian landscape especially within the molds of judiciary and administrative grass.
There is so much to the book however, I will only cover the elements that I found are relevant and will keep the review brief and to the point.
The book is divided into three parts and the first one is called COLONIALITY.
COLONISATION is described as "Process by which people belonging to a nation establish colonies in other societies while retaining their bonds with the parent nation, and exploits the colonized societies to benefit the parent nation and themselves" and COLONIALITY as "Fundamental element or though process that informs the policy of colonialism and advances the subtler end goal of colonization, namely colonization of the mind through complete domination of the culture and worldview of the colonized society"
Colonialism & Coloniality are ideologically dissected in the context of Christianity
The principal half of the book outlines the historical backdrop of the soul of India and how it was/is tainted by colonial powers. Starting from the expedition of Columbus in 1492 a fact has been outlines how Asia managed to save its Non-Christian persona while whole of Americas is Christianized and Asia still remains the "Unfinished business"
Another fact that author has shed the light on is how colonial terminology can be derogatory if the origin of the words are traced. The word "Modern" which is Eurocentric in nature and somehow a slur of the old indigenous tribes. Quoting Patricia Seed (American historian and professor in the University of California), traced the "origin of the word "Modern" which made its debut in the context of architecture when the Ostrogothic ruler of Northern Italy encouraged wealthy Roman families to undertake reconstruction of public buildings at their private expense. It was only around in 1430s, that 'modern' was used in southern romance languages to show the past in poor light and congratulate the present."
Indeed one of the goal of the colonizer is to adjust the education in such a way that a native is totally cut off from the roots.
The second segment of the book titled "CIVILISATION" has some interesting takes (grounded on facts of course) where the Marx is seen stating that "British colonialism was good for Bharat and whatever may have been the crimes of England she was the unconscious tool of history in bringing about that revolution"
The Marxists of India being special kind that serves the purpose of Christian and Islamic colonialities are also responsible for the fostering of colonial virus in Bharat's educational system. The segment also sheds the light on the works of Indic scholars and researchers Har Bilas Sharda, Radha Kumud Mookerji, Jadunath Sarkar and RC Majumdar) who were Non-Left and were admonished by the Marxist Distorians.
You have the case and rationale for:-
1. Importance of Pilgrimages
2. Civilizational Nationalism
3. Devastation of some fantasy that Bharat was scattered micro nationalities tied together only by the British (Primary sources are used)
The third part of the book called CONSTITUTION and stamps the fact how secular is just Christian secular (with context to 1858 act passed by the Raj). The liberal sounding laws that were/are not actually liberal but were really oppressive to the native folks and thus the need for decoloniality of an Indic brand.
To summarize, The book mostly inspect and surveys the tumor that is and not much of a remedy is provided. Maybe the next two book will provide the remedy or as individuals, we have to do the surgery ourselves. "India That is Bharat" is an absolute WOW of a book which energizes new impressions and sentiments. J Sai Deepak delves into the past, notices the present, and I hope in the second book, he reaches out to the future.
Some significant quotes from the book.
Since Bharat is the only natural homeland for the Indic consciousness, the Indian State has the civilizational duty to ensure that this space remains as such, and accommodation of any other consciousness is contingent on
(a) Respect for the undeniable and inseparable relationship between Bharat and the Indic consciousness
(b) Giving up those tenets that dehumanize the Indic consciousness or call for its extermination, whether scripturally sanctioned or not.
Bharat's civilization is not one that reduces nature to just one branch of study, namely "environmentalism", to be ticked off as just another box in an environmental impact assessment checklist. Instead, it puts nature right at the heart of it's worldview and sees divinity in every aspect, form and manifestation of nature
If Bharat's native consciousness never gets to tell its story the way it has experienced it, not only will the world, including Bhartiyas. never know what Bharat has been subjected to, it will also amount to a monumental failure to memorialize its colonization and colonialization.
The coloniality of the Indian state is evidenced by the fact that as opposed to preserving and respecting the space of Indic consciousness, which would have been consistent with the policy of Christian toleration and secularism of the colonizer that accorded primacy to Christianity, the Indian state acts as the successor to the colonizer in the step motherly treatment of native consciousness. Consequently, non-Indic institutions and practices enjoy better protection from State interference than their Indic counterparts.
The decolonial option is not just an option but an existential imperative for Indic civilizational consciousness; and since the Constitution is being pushed as a secular document without examining it for colonial consciousness, a decolonial evaluation of the document and its antecedents is an exercise that must be undertaken without any further protraction.
रतेनादित्या स्तिष्ठन्ति दिवि सोमो अधि शारित।
truth is the base that bears the earth;
by Surya are the heavens sustained.
By laws the Adityas stand secure;
and some holds his place in heaven
A brain fog is a symptom of whenever a person has a difficulty or concentrating clearly. Some symptoms also include anxiety and memory problems. The book surgically dissects that symptom of the COLONIAL BRAIN FOG that haunts the Indian landscape especially within the molds of judiciary and administrative grass.
There is so much to the book however, I will only cover the elements that I found are relevant and will keep the review brief and to the point.
The book is divided into three parts and the first one is called COLONIALITY.
COLONISATION is described as "Process by which people belonging to a nation establish colonies in other societies while retaining their bonds with the parent nation, and exploits the colonized societies to benefit the parent nation and themselves" and COLONIALITY as "Fundamental element or though process that informs the policy of colonialism and advances the subtler end goal of colonization, namely colonization of the mind through complete domination of the culture and worldview of the colonized society"
Colonialism & Coloniality are ideologically dissected in the context of Christianity
The principal half of the book outlines the historical backdrop of the soul of India and how it was/is tainted by colonial powers. Starting from the expedition of Columbus in 1492 a fact has been outlines how Asia managed to save its Non-Christian persona while whole of Americas is Christianized and Asia still remains the "Unfinished business"
Another fact that author has shed the light on is how colonial terminology can be derogatory if the origin of the words are traced. The word "Modern" which is Eurocentric in nature and somehow a slur of the old indigenous tribes. Quoting Patricia Seed (American historian and professor in the University of California), traced the "origin of the word "Modern" which made its debut in the context of architecture when the Ostrogothic ruler of Northern Italy encouraged wealthy Roman families to undertake reconstruction of public buildings at their private expense. It was only around in 1430s, that 'modern' was used in southern romance languages to show the past in poor light and congratulate the present."
Indeed one of the goal of the colonizer is to adjust the education in such a way that a native is totally cut off from the roots.
The second segment of the book titled "CIVILISATION" has some interesting takes (grounded on facts of course) where the Marx is seen stating that "British colonialism was good for Bharat and whatever may have been the crimes of England she was the unconscious tool of history in bringing about that revolution"
The Marxists of India being special kind that serves the purpose of Christian and Islamic colonialities are also responsible for the fostering of colonial virus in Bharat's educational system. The segment also sheds the light on the works of Indic scholars and researchers Har Bilas Sharda, Radha Kumud Mookerji, Jadunath Sarkar and RC Majumdar) who were Non-Left and were admonished by the Marxist Distorians.
You have the case and rationale for:-
1. Importance of Pilgrimages
2. Civilizational Nationalism
3. Devastation of some fantasy that Bharat was scattered micro nationalities tied together only by the British (Primary sources are used)
The third part of the book called CONSTITUTION and stamps the fact how secular is just Christian secular (with context to 1858 act passed by the Raj). The liberal sounding laws that were/are not actually liberal but were really oppressive to the native folks and thus the need for decoloniality of an Indic brand.
To summarize, The book mostly inspect and surveys the tumor that is and not much of a remedy is provided. Maybe the next two book will provide the remedy or as individuals, we have to do the surgery ourselves. "India That is Bharat" is an absolute WOW of a book which energizes new impressions and sentiments. J Sai Deepak delves into the past, notices the present, and I hope in the second book, he reaches out to the future.
Some significant quotes from the book.
Since Bharat is the only natural homeland for the Indic consciousness, the Indian State has the civilizational duty to ensure that this space remains as such, and accommodation of any other consciousness is contingent on
(a) Respect for the undeniable and inseparable relationship between Bharat and the Indic consciousness
(b) Giving up those tenets that dehumanize the Indic consciousness or call for its extermination, whether scripturally sanctioned or not.
Bharat's civilization is not one that reduces nature to just one branch of study, namely "environmentalism", to be ticked off as just another box in an environmental impact assessment checklist. Instead, it puts nature right at the heart of it's worldview and sees divinity in every aspect, form and manifestation of nature
If Bharat's native consciousness never gets to tell its story the way it has experienced it, not only will the world, including Bhartiyas. never know what Bharat has been subjected to, it will also amount to a monumental failure to memorialize its colonization and colonialization.
The coloniality of the Indian state is evidenced by the fact that as opposed to preserving and respecting the space of Indic consciousness, which would have been consistent with the policy of Christian toleration and secularism of the colonizer that accorded primacy to Christianity, the Indian state acts as the successor to the colonizer in the step motherly treatment of native consciousness. Consequently, non-Indic institutions and practices enjoy better protection from State interference than their Indic counterparts.
The decolonial option is not just an option but an existential imperative for Indic civilizational consciousness; and since the Constitution is being pushed as a secular document without examining it for colonial consciousness, a decolonial evaluation of the document and its antecedents is an exercise that must be undertaken without any further protraction.
December 5, 2021
India that is Bharat is book 1 of a trilogy that seeks to set the foundation for the arguments J Sai Deepak is going to put forth in volumes 2 and 3. The basic premise of the argument (i am paraphrasing) is that events from the 15th century to 19th century Europe that shook the world led to universal definitions of concepts like “Modernity”, “Secularism”, “Equality” and “Rationality”. The author claims that these definitions were fundamentally shaped by the Protestant reformation and underlying Christian morality and are hence “Christian”. In addition, these values went hand in hand with the 18th and 19th-century colonization of Bharat, the legacy of which is still ubiquitous in India. For someone who is even superficially well-read on these topics and has an open mind — this claim is not unsupported (though one could argue on the fine details). The clarity of thought of the author is at display in every word of the book. The book is not a scholarly exercise but a precise multi-utility instrument at the disposal of the ever-growing Indic consciousness movement.
Overall it is fair to say that the author doesn’t confront the plurality of viewpoints on the topic he is addressing. The rhetorical tools which the author deploys in the audiovisual medium are somewhat blunted in the written word, and this also is a weakness of the book. He makes a persuasive case for Decoloniality despite these flaws, but the argument is far from water-tight. (though clearly, a majority of readers would disagree). Every now and then amidst robust points, the author also displays his tendency for hyperbole like calling retention of Hindu identity of the geography of the majority a paper identity. Not only that, but the author also uses postmodernist (“woke terms”) like “politico-epistemic violence of modernity” which is a red flag for whoever is following the debates around these issues in the West.
The book comes out as a precise instrument and not as an inquiry — which is both its strength and its biggest weakness. To date, I have not come across one legitimate critique of the book, either on GoodReads or Amazon or any digital or non-digital publications. The reason for this is clear though, one side of the ideological spectrum treats the author and his arguments as a pariah or upstart — either too extreme or too mediocre for attention. On the flip side, the other side has and will continue to treat this work as “Groundbreaking”, “Red-pilling” or “even personification of perfection” which seems a stretch even with concessions – especially coming from people who are vastly well-read and more of an intellectual bend than myself. I would argue the people on all sides of the political spectrum taking these positions are either dishonest, myopic, or incompetent. Or maybe it’s that they’re blown away (or repelled) by the personality and rhetoric prowess of the author.
While the readers of this post wouldn’t necessarily agree with all the criticisms I have made above, at least some of the criticisms ought to stick.
Having said that, the book was very important and consequential, especially due to the ingrained coloniality in our institutions and minds (especially the courts). For all its faults, the core argument of the book — that India still has a considerable colonial hangover and needs to shed it to become Bharat — stands solidly by the end of the book. The author has also inspired and convinced me to become more Bharatiya despite my profound disagreements with the book. For context: On identifying with the label “Liberal” over “Conservative”. My position on the liberal/conservative scale has shifted slightly to the conservative side due to my engagements with the author’s (and many other) viewpoints in general and this book, in particular. This book can also be seen as part of the famous Tilak vs Agarkar/Ranade debates that have shaped the Marathi society for the last 100 years. One could say that the intellectual and state pendulum has swung more in Agarkar’s favor and this book is an attempt to wrestle it back towards Tilak.
Given the popularity of the book and the author, the cliche saying “Love it, Hate it but you can’t ignore it” is perfect, to sum up the book in particular and the Decoloniality movement in general. It is definitely a must-read for all interested in public discourse about India that is Bharat.
For full review please check out -
https://link.medium.com/BRIKEKw9Jlb
Overall it is fair to say that the author doesn’t confront the plurality of viewpoints on the topic he is addressing. The rhetorical tools which the author deploys in the audiovisual medium are somewhat blunted in the written word, and this also is a weakness of the book. He makes a persuasive case for Decoloniality despite these flaws, but the argument is far from water-tight. (though clearly, a majority of readers would disagree). Every now and then amidst robust points, the author also displays his tendency for hyperbole like calling retention of Hindu identity of the geography of the majority a paper identity. Not only that, but the author also uses postmodernist (“woke terms”) like “politico-epistemic violence of modernity” which is a red flag for whoever is following the debates around these issues in the West.
The book comes out as a precise instrument and not as an inquiry — which is both its strength and its biggest weakness. To date, I have not come across one legitimate critique of the book, either on GoodReads or Amazon or any digital or non-digital publications. The reason for this is clear though, one side of the ideological spectrum treats the author and his arguments as a pariah or upstart — either too extreme or too mediocre for attention. On the flip side, the other side has and will continue to treat this work as “Groundbreaking”, “Red-pilling” or “even personification of perfection” which seems a stretch even with concessions – especially coming from people who are vastly well-read and more of an intellectual bend than myself. I would argue the people on all sides of the political spectrum taking these positions are either dishonest, myopic, or incompetent. Or maybe it’s that they’re blown away (or repelled) by the personality and rhetoric prowess of the author.
While the readers of this post wouldn’t necessarily agree with all the criticisms I have made above, at least some of the criticisms ought to stick.
Having said that, the book was very important and consequential, especially due to the ingrained coloniality in our institutions and minds (especially the courts). For all its faults, the core argument of the book — that India still has a considerable colonial hangover and needs to shed it to become Bharat — stands solidly by the end of the book. The author has also inspired and convinced me to become more Bharatiya despite my profound disagreements with the book. For context: On identifying with the label “Liberal” over “Conservative”. My position on the liberal/conservative scale has shifted slightly to the conservative side due to my engagements with the author’s (and many other) viewpoints in general and this book, in particular. This book can also be seen as part of the famous Tilak vs Agarkar/Ranade debates that have shaped the Marathi society for the last 100 years. One could say that the intellectual and state pendulum has swung more in Agarkar’s favor and this book is an attempt to wrestle it back towards Tilak.
Given the popularity of the book and the author, the cliche saying “Love it, Hate it but you can’t ignore it” is perfect, to sum up the book in particular and the Decoloniality movement in general. It is definitely a must-read for all interested in public discourse about India that is Bharat.
For full review please check out -
https://link.medium.com/BRIKEKw9Jlb
January 9, 2022
After completing my legal education from The WBNUJS (2006-2011), I had a sense that I’d ventured into the new world, ready with the ‘good word’, empowered and capable to spread it to my extended family, and inform them of the new territories lying out there to be conquered with personal endeavour. My attempts to enliven their aspirations were met with a cold shoulder that shrugged at being ‘told’ of pursuit-worthy goals.
I came out of that experiencing self-doubt and like a man of reason, I ventured into self-introspection than castigation of those who didn’t think alike. I hazarded an analogy of the incident with the civilizational missions of Christian Europe and Islamic Middle East which drew their sustenance from the missionary zeal of those who believed they had the ultimate unalterable good news being beneficiaries of the ministrations of their lords and prophets. I could not escape concluding that my attempt to spread the good word about ‘corporate law’ in my home town was perhaps no different from what has been attempted for so long in the past.
That’s why the idea of a ‘civilizing mission’ is deeply personal to me and also the primary motivation for me to take up J. Sai Deepak’s (JSD’s) book. The intent was to understand as to why were such civilizing missions wrong? Take out the imperialistic brutalities and the material deprivations meted out on this sacred geography south of the Himalayas, what remains is a fascinating set of British thinkers and visionaries looking deep into the future while analyzing the contours of the relationship between the empire and Bharat.
It was a surprise, while going through original letters and speeches noted verbatim in JSD’s book, that the British venture in the Bharatiya sub-continent was never planned to be a lasting affair and an exit was contemplated quite in advance. This makes me wonder if the Bharatiya independence struggle was not so much a novelty, than a corollary of British designs. It must be remembered that the Gandhian forms of protests could take shape only because the Britishers avowedly adopted ‘rule of law’ as the basis of their imperial endeavour, which provided opportunities to national leaders of Bharatiya non-violent movement to hold them accountable to that very basis.
A good portion of JSD’s book is premised on the conceptual bases that girded the build-up to the eventual exit. JSD examines the underlying assumptions that drove the civilizational zeal of the imperialists and lays bare, with surgical precision, the Christian philosophical approaches, wisdoms and religious principles that guided much of British endeavour, policies, diplomatic craft, and terms of engagement with the population in Bharat.
JSD’s efforts must be congratulated for throwing a bright spotlight on the existence of duality of identity experienced by Bharatiyas, something which we all sensed as an innocuous thought, but did not have adequate vocabulary to verbalize, leave alone to understand it as being on an existential fork. While we are aware of the average Pakistani’s identity split in their acknowledgment between an Arabic and a Hindu ancestry, and may have derived unwarranted humour out of it, JSD’s book does the remarkable act of beautifully navigating through tomes of literature to establish that we, the Bharatiyas, are also not spared from such a misfortune, since we also have to confront a choice to be made between a colonial consciousness and an indigenous consciousness.
JSD’s book does not help resolve the above-mentioned quandary for the average Bharatiya, but it surely instigates one into an inquisitorial pursuit to examine the parts of their identity and outlook that suffer from coloniality and which are truly indigenous. The book does it by firstly positing the imperial framework as distinctively Christian in design starting from an analysis of the ‘Papal Bull of 1498’, and traversing through various company charters and mandates right until the formation of league of nations and the implementation of the Montford scheme in Bharat in the second decade of the 20th century. JSD further explains that any internal divergence amidst the imperialists was only in relation to how covert or overt the missionary effort the British policy makers thought it fit to communicate to the indigenous populace, without harbouring any ambiguity as to the religious motivations behind their ‘ennobling principles’ that guided British imperial machinery.
JSD's endeavour could thus be summed into an attempt to showcase how our contemporary understanding of 'secularism', is perhaps, put crudely, nothing but covert Christianity. JSD tries to put forth the idea that secularized version of Christianity was served as part of the civilizational mission. In this regard, I hesitate to affirm JSD's contention, because 'secularized' version of any thought system runs a good chance of entering into the realm of universal values, and therefore I'd rather believe that while the imperialist endeavour entered through the gateways of Christianity, what they ultimately ended into could very well be 'universal' across different thought systems. Perhaps an examination of how different thought systems/religions view 'universalisms' could have better informed this section in the book.
Finally, I come out unsatisfied about being as ignorant as before, about what could have been the alternative, if the clock were to rewind, and the efficacy of the alternative. My non-satisfaction is primarily due to viewing existentialist questions from a mercantile perspective where uniformity and scale are desirable features, which may not have been sustained by federated cultures, each distinguished by their language, norms and aesthetic requirements. In the end, while being enlightened of the dual nature of the ancestry of my consciousness, I am somehow not feeling any more a victim of fate than as someone who experiences their self as a sum of their own personal choices. If JSD is to be trusted, then this could be a result of the unfinished project of ‘decoloniality’.
I came out of that experiencing self-doubt and like a man of reason, I ventured into self-introspection than castigation of those who didn’t think alike. I hazarded an analogy of the incident with the civilizational missions of Christian Europe and Islamic Middle East which drew their sustenance from the missionary zeal of those who believed they had the ultimate unalterable good news being beneficiaries of the ministrations of their lords and prophets. I could not escape concluding that my attempt to spread the good word about ‘corporate law’ in my home town was perhaps no different from what has been attempted for so long in the past.
That’s why the idea of a ‘civilizing mission’ is deeply personal to me and also the primary motivation for me to take up J. Sai Deepak’s (JSD’s) book. The intent was to understand as to why were such civilizing missions wrong? Take out the imperialistic brutalities and the material deprivations meted out on this sacred geography south of the Himalayas, what remains is a fascinating set of British thinkers and visionaries looking deep into the future while analyzing the contours of the relationship between the empire and Bharat.
It was a surprise, while going through original letters and speeches noted verbatim in JSD’s book, that the British venture in the Bharatiya sub-continent was never planned to be a lasting affair and an exit was contemplated quite in advance. This makes me wonder if the Bharatiya independence struggle was not so much a novelty, than a corollary of British designs. It must be remembered that the Gandhian forms of protests could take shape only because the Britishers avowedly adopted ‘rule of law’ as the basis of their imperial endeavour, which provided opportunities to national leaders of Bharatiya non-violent movement to hold them accountable to that very basis.
A good portion of JSD’s book is premised on the conceptual bases that girded the build-up to the eventual exit. JSD examines the underlying assumptions that drove the civilizational zeal of the imperialists and lays bare, with surgical precision, the Christian philosophical approaches, wisdoms and religious principles that guided much of British endeavour, policies, diplomatic craft, and terms of engagement with the population in Bharat.
JSD’s efforts must be congratulated for throwing a bright spotlight on the existence of duality of identity experienced by Bharatiyas, something which we all sensed as an innocuous thought, but did not have adequate vocabulary to verbalize, leave alone to understand it as being on an existential fork. While we are aware of the average Pakistani’s identity split in their acknowledgment between an Arabic and a Hindu ancestry, and may have derived unwarranted humour out of it, JSD’s book does the remarkable act of beautifully navigating through tomes of literature to establish that we, the Bharatiyas, are also not spared from such a misfortune, since we also have to confront a choice to be made between a colonial consciousness and an indigenous consciousness.
JSD’s book does not help resolve the above-mentioned quandary for the average Bharatiya, but it surely instigates one into an inquisitorial pursuit to examine the parts of their identity and outlook that suffer from coloniality and which are truly indigenous. The book does it by firstly positing the imperial framework as distinctively Christian in design starting from an analysis of the ‘Papal Bull of 1498’, and traversing through various company charters and mandates right until the formation of league of nations and the implementation of the Montford scheme in Bharat in the second decade of the 20th century. JSD further explains that any internal divergence amidst the imperialists was only in relation to how covert or overt the missionary effort the British policy makers thought it fit to communicate to the indigenous populace, without harbouring any ambiguity as to the religious motivations behind their ‘ennobling principles’ that guided British imperial machinery.
JSD's endeavour could thus be summed into an attempt to showcase how our contemporary understanding of 'secularism', is perhaps, put crudely, nothing but covert Christianity. JSD tries to put forth the idea that secularized version of Christianity was served as part of the civilizational mission. In this regard, I hesitate to affirm JSD's contention, because 'secularized' version of any thought system runs a good chance of entering into the realm of universal values, and therefore I'd rather believe that while the imperialist endeavour entered through the gateways of Christianity, what they ultimately ended into could very well be 'universal' across different thought systems. Perhaps an examination of how different thought systems/religions view 'universalisms' could have better informed this section in the book.
Finally, I come out unsatisfied about being as ignorant as before, about what could have been the alternative, if the clock were to rewind, and the efficacy of the alternative. My non-satisfaction is primarily due to viewing existentialist questions from a mercantile perspective where uniformity and scale are desirable features, which may not have been sustained by federated cultures, each distinguished by their language, norms and aesthetic requirements. In the end, while being enlightened of the dual nature of the ancestry of my consciousness, I am somehow not feeling any more a victim of fate than as someone who experiences their self as a sum of their own personal choices. If JSD is to be trusted, then this could be a result of the unfinished project of ‘decoloniality’.
February 9, 2022
#ibc #indicacademy
India, that is Bharat is a book by J. Sai Deepak. This book which is the first book of a trilogy covers the history of the colonial thought that has remained in our country. From the European conquests till 1919, how the colonial powers deeply entrenched the colonial thought process in the psyche of the Indians, is covered in this book.
The book is more of a scholarly study giving excerpts from various sources about the intent and the way the Europeans achieved their aim.
The book is not an easy read for people who are used to reading just fiction. While the matter covered is important and enlightening, it is not a simple read.
India, that is Bharat is a book by J. Sai Deepak. This book which is the first book of a trilogy covers the history of the colonial thought that has remained in our country. From the European conquests till 1919, how the colonial powers deeply entrenched the colonial thought process in the psyche of the Indians, is covered in this book.
The book is more of a scholarly study giving excerpts from various sources about the intent and the way the Europeans achieved their aim.
The book is not an easy read for people who are used to reading just fiction. While the matter covered is important and enlightening, it is not a simple read.
April 20, 2022
This book is a treasure. With it's numerous references and bibliography, is a wonderful source to find out so much more to read, research and learn. J Sai Deepak has achieved a humungous feat by documenting this, waiting for the next two books in the trilogy. This will be reread many times.
June 9, 2024
Eye opening book, makes you see not just your country but your life from a different perspective. I will be questioning the biasness of my views for a very long time. We need more literature like this to help us self reflect our cultural roots.
March 12, 2023
This book is not the faint hearted. The subject is complex and the language is dense. But the level of research Sai Deepak has undertaken is astounding. So many terms we use casually today, have a Christian origin. Decolonializing the Indian mind seems like a Herculean task!
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